


Always Home

by probably_publius



Category: Cartoon Therapy (Web Series), Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Author Is Sleep Deprived, College, Creativetwins, Crofters Jam, Deceit | Janus Sanders Needs A Friend, Domestic Fluff, Emo, Everyone Has a Different Last Name, Everyone Is Gay, Everyone Looks Different, Everyone Needs A Hug, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Frogs, Guys help idk how to write, Idk how anything works, LGBTQIAP+, Like Bruh Why Can't the Twins Get Along, Logan has a jam addiction, M/M, Minor Injuries, My First AO3 Post, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, No Smut, Roman is a bit of a bully, Sibling drama, Snakes, Sympathetic and Unsympathetic, Tarantula - Freeform, Theatre, everyone is poor, oh my god they were roommates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-22
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:07:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 12
Words: 24,484
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25438171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probably_publius/pseuds/probably_publius
Summary: On the corner of Light Way and Dark Road are two houses rented out to ragtag groups of down-on-their-luck adults. In one house lives Patton Morre, the friendly father figure that spends too much time worrying about others;  Roman Cruz, the aspiring actor with a huge ego;  and Logan Logue, the brainiac college boy who seems to have no feelings. Across the street is an even more chaotic group. There's Janus De Serio, a man of mystery who keeps to himself;  Remus Cruz, a garbage man with a creative mind that no one will give a chance;  and Virgil Andre, an emo nightmare who doesn't know his place in the world. How will these six individuals interact with each other and what events will take place amidst their drama?Started: June 23rd, 2020Ended: ???This is a real life au btw.TW: won't have the heaviest of topics but some character (cough-Roman-cough) will be a bit rude to others;  plenty of characters will feel unsure of themselves;  no smut ya nasties (unless you count the Logan x Crofter's scenes)All characters belong to Thomas Sanders and his friends, I don't own the Sanders SidesSeptember 10th update: Hey guys, this fic may be on haitus for a while. I apologize for this.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders, Dark Creativity | Remus "The Duke" Sanders & Deceit | Janus Sanders, Deceit | Janus Sanders & Morality | Patton Sanders, Dr. Emile Picani/Sleep | Remy Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders/Morality | Patton Sanders, Logicality, Moceit, Prinxiety, Remile, dukeceit - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 26





	1. About (You don't have to read this)

Hello, this is my very first public fanfiction so I hope it's good. This is just some background knowledge on the story before you read.

Characters: Patton Morre, Roman Cruz, Logan Logue, Virgil Andre, Janus De Serio, Remus Cruz (I changed their names and appearances so they all don't look the same)

Ships: Prinxiety, Logicality, Anceit, Moceit, Dukeceit, etc.

TW: won't have the heaviest of topics but some character (cough-Roman-cough) will be a bit rude to others; plenty of characters will feel unsure of themselves; no smut ya nasties (unless you count the Logan x Crofter's scenes)

Summary: On the corner of Light Way and Dark Road are two houses rented out to ragtag groups of down-on-their-luck adults. In one house lives Patton Morre, the friendly father figure that spends too much time worrying about others; Roman Cruz, the aspiring actor with a huge ego; and Logan Logue, the brainiac college boy who seems to have no feelings. Across the street is an even more chaotic group. There's Janus De Serio, a man of mystery who keeps to himself; Remus Cruz, a garbage man with a creative mind that no one will give a chance; and Virgil Andre, an emo nightmare who doesn't know his place in the world. How will these six individuals interact with each other and what events will take place amidst their drama?

Here's a handy-dandy map of both houses. The way the bedrooms are colored correlate to who owns which bedroom in each house.

And without further ado... here's the actual story!


	2. The Light Blue Town House

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Spiders, nerd shaming, and someone being way too passionate about jelly

Patton was the first to arrive at the blue tinted house. It was small but pretty homey, and Patton was excited that he would get to share this house with two other people. The porch held an old swing that faced the dying lawn. I’ll have to do something about that, Patton thought, looking at the poor wilting plants. The house was on the corner of Light Way and Dark Road, which Patton found a bit humorous.

As he was unloading his bags from his car, Patton noticed a man watching him. He was standing on the porch of the dark grey house across the street, but the way he was facing didn’t allow Patton to the right side of his face. As soon as he realized Patton was watching him, the man averted his gaze and rushed inside, closing the bright yellow door behind him.

“That’s odd,” Patton muttered to himself. He then turned his head upward to see another boy watching him from the second story of the house. He couldn’t see the eyes of this boy either since he had long purple bangs covering his face. But wanting to be the friendly neighbor, Patton gave a kind wave and smiled at the boy. The boy gave a quick wave back but then darted away from the window so Patton could see him no more.

Patton shrugged off his strange encounter with the neighbors, and started to carry his stuff inside his new house. He had signed up to share this house and its rent with two other people… and his pet frog of course!

His frog, Lilypadton, was the first thing he brought inside. The second he stepped inside, Patton was hit by the musty smell of the old house. The walls were colored a light green, faded by the sun. Although, Patton had to admit there wasn’t much sun as the few windows were covered by dark drapes. Right next to the entrance was a flight of stairs that Patton guessed led up to the bedrooms. On the first floor was a small tv surrounded by a crimson sofa, a kitchen that held only a stove, a sink, and a refrigerator, and a bay window surrounded by bookshelves. In the kitchen was a door that led to a small backyard with yellow grass. The yard was only a few square feet, but Patton decided he would try to start a garden anyway.

Patton struggled upstairs with Lily’s tank and surveyed the four rooms. Each was the same, unless you factor in that the first and last room had an extra window facing either the street or the backyard. Since he didn’t want to start a fight with his roommates by taking one of the better rooms first, he chose the second to last room.

Setting Lilypadton in the corner next to the bed, Patton said, “Don’t you worry Lil. I’ll have this room set up in no time!” But after bringing all of his bags up, he decided he would first clean the downstairs of the house before his roommates arrived.

He had signed up for an arrangement that grouped him with two other people to share the rent of a small town house with. It had been set up by the landlord for anyone that couldn’t afford a house by themselves.

He found a broom and feather duster in the closet underneath the stairs, and got to work. He opened the curtains to the window in the kitchen and living room and started to dust the empty bookshelves. He luckily didn’t spot mites anywhere, so even though this house was small and dusty, it was still safe to live in. Patton then moved onto the kitchen and dusted the cupboard shelves. Though, he finished with that quickly so he then had to do what he had been avoiding: cleaning the drapes.

There were no chairs in the house yet, so Patton had to climb onto the kitchen counter to reach the curtain rod. He started to pull the drapes off of the rod when he saw what he had been fearing. A large spider jumped onto his hand and started crawling up and down Patton’s arm. Patton felt the gentle yet threatening pitter-patter of the spider’s eight legs and screamed as he realized what it was. “A creepy crawly death dealer!” he screeched, jumping from the counter. As his socked foot came in contact with the hardwood flooring, he slipped and hit his head on the floor.

Everything went black.

~~~

“Who’d you think you're kiddin’? He's the earth and heaven to ya / try to keep it hidden / honey we can see right through ya / Oh noooooooo- hello?” Roman paused the Disney music blasting through his earbuds to look around the house. It was a far step away from the mansion castle he dreamed to own, but it would work for now. “Hellooooo?” Roman asked again. He knew somebody was here since their run-down mini-van was parked in the street. Roman didn’t have a car, he always walked into the city to work unless he had enough money to afford an uber.

When nobody answered his greetings, Roman took out the swiss army knife he always carried. It wasn’t that he was scared, he… he just wanted to protect himself if necessary.

He crept into the kitchen and immediately tripped over something on the floor. “Ahh!” he screamed as he went flying towards the ground. Roman quickly brushed himself off as he stood up and investigated what he had just tripped over.

It was something human-sized and covered with a dusty grey curtain. Roman pulled off the curtain to see that it was indeed a human lying underneath the curtain. He was a short man (not that short, but Roman was tall and saw everyone as short) with a round face and unruly curly blonde hair. Millions of freckles covered his slightly tanned skin. He was clad in a pale blue sweater- and not your normal, fashionable sweater, but a full blown cardigan that you might see your grandparents wear. Additionally, he wore a bunch of twine bracelets on his wrists, all in differing colors.

Roman was worried that the blonde man was dead, but he started to murmur stuff about cookies so Roman gave a relieved exhale. “Hey? Hey?!” Roman whispered as he nudged the blonde man awake, “Are you good?”

The blonde man’s eyes fluttered open and were suddenly filled with panic. He felt around for something, and Roman watched as he put on large round glasses. “Where… where did it go?” he asked, fear thick in his voice.

“Where’d what go?” Roman asked, cautiously looking around the room.

“The creepy crawly death dealer!”

“The creepy crawly what?” Roman was mostly confused, but he was also surprised how this man could say such a funny phrase while also being so frightened.

“There was a spider. I must’ve slipped off the counter when I saw it.” The blonde man wasn’t paying much attention to Roman, but instead was searching for the ‘creepy crawly death dealer’.

“Is this it?” Roman asked, pointing to a small arachnid on the ground.

The man shrieked and hopped onto the counter. He obviously had a strong phobia of spiders.

“It’s so small,” Roman said with a slight chuckle. He stomped on the tiny beast with his weathered leather boots. It was high time Roman got new boots, ones that didn’t have holes in them.

Once the blonde man saw that the spider was defeated, he calmed down and snapped out of his frightened state. “Oh my gosh, you must be one of my roommates. I’m so sorry, I wanted to clean the house for when you got here- I was also gonna make cookies, but I guess I don’t have any ingredients,” he flustered, “I’m sorry you had to see me like that, I’m just really afraid of spiders. Thank you for killing it. My name's Patton.”

Patton stood up and extended his hand for Roman to shake. And after Roman deciphered the cluster of information he was just given, he took his hand and shook it firmly. “Roman Cruz. And it was no problem killing the spider, I vanquished beasts all the time.” He gave Patton one of his trademarked Roman Cruz Dashing Smiles. “You, uh, said something about cookies? Can you cook?”

Patton chuckled. “Yeah, but I won’t have the proper ingredients to make anything until we go to the store. But I think I have some Oreos up in my room, if you’re hungry. I was wanting to save them for when all of us arrive so we could share them while getting to know each other.”

Wow, Roman thought, This guy is such a dad.

Suddenly, the door opened and the final roommate entered. He was tall- even taller than Roman, which through off his groove a bit -and skinny. He wore jeans, a black polo shirt, a blue necktie, and a gray backpack overflowing with books. He had spiky black hair combed upward, and wore square glasses. He took out his earbuds and surveyed the two men without showing any emotion. Just by looking at him, Roman could tell that this man wasn’t listening to any music, but instead a podcast about politics or quantum physics… something that a nerd would listen to.

“Hello,” he nodded, “I’m going to go set my books down in my room and then grab the rest of my suitcases from the taxi.” He put his earbuds back in and walked upstairs.

Roman was unsure why the man had to narrate everything he was doing, but he guessed it was just one of the side effects of being a huge nerd.

Patton, however, seemed to be only excited over another roommate. “This is great! I’m gonna go grab the cookies. When you two are done unpacking, I want us all to have a meeting in the living room for a bit of ice-breaking.”

By that time the nerd-man was downstairs again, bringing in the rest of his bags. “Ice-breaking?” he asked as if he didn’t know what the phrase meant, “Is the refrigerator frozen over?”

Roman laughed. “Oh my goodness, you don’t know what that means?”

“Uh… it’s just breaking frozen water. Is it not?” The nerd-man still didn’t suspect how wrong he was.

“Roman! It is not nice to laugh at somebody!” Patton scolded. “I’m sorry, if I confused you,” he said, turning back to the Microsoft Nerd, “It’s just, like, an idiom for getting to know each other.”

“Oh.” That was all Microsoft Nerd said before returning to his bags.

Roman laughed again. “Wow. I can’t believe that nerd didn’t know that common phrase. I mean, I guess it is a bit outdated but still.”

He turned back to Patton, who seemed to be stifling a bit of anger.

“What? What did I say?”

“Roman,” he said in a condescending tone, “Don’t call people nerds. You also shouldn’t laugh at people.”

Roman shrugged. “Whatever, Padre. I’m going to grab my stuff and unpack.”

He exited the house and grabbed his few bags on the sidewalk. While hefting the bags onto his shoulders, he could’ve sworn he saw a familiar face in one of the windows of the house across the street but shrugged it off as just his imagination.

He then caught a glimpse of his reflection in the back windshield of Patton’s car. And Roman of course had to pause to admire himself. He had dark tan skin and reddish-brown waves falling to the side of his face. His teeth were pearly white and his eyes were crisp green complimented with shocking red eyeshadow. Roman was clad in an old red t-shirt, a denim jacket, tan trousers, and holy boots. Roman didn’t own many clothes but he could always make an outfit work.

After a short while of appreciating his own dashing looks, Roman hauled his stuff upstairs. Microsoft and Patton had taken the furthest two rooms so he was free to claim the best room in the house, the front one with a window facing the street. Yet, the room was still a bit of a disappointment with only a twin bed and a corner to place his things.

He had nowhere to keep his things but inside his suitcases, so Roman set them down in the corner and hurried downstairs as he heard the opening of a plastic cookie pack.

~~~

As Logan quickly unpacked his stuff so that he could get the ‘breaking of the ice’ over with, he thought about his impression of his two roommates.  
One was very preppy and dashing looking, but was in reality quite rude. Logan had no interest in becoming acquainted with someone who reminded him of his high school bullies.

The other struck Logan as something else. He seemed friendly and even looked what one might call cute.

No. Logan shook himself from his daze. To think of somebody as cute and friendly would be an opinion. And opinions always got in the way of everything. Logan had told himself not to have opinions on such trivial things like boys. He chose to only have opinions on matters that had actual importance. And that matter was fruit spread.

Logan unzipped one of his bags to see that it was entirely filled with jars of Crofters Jam. He sighed happily as he sniffed one of the glass containers of sweet, sugary goodness. Logan then took out a spoon and started to snack on the blackberry preserve. Most kids that went to his college were addicted to coffee, energy drinks, or… other substances, but Logan? He was content with his collection of Crofters.

Once he finished half a jar, Logan figured he better introduce himself to the others, so he cleaned off his face and made his way downstairs. The two boys were already munching on cookies when he got downstairs, and the kind one offered him some.

“No thank you,” Logan replied, “I already had a snack.” And yes, half a jar of Crofter is a snack.

“Coolio. Well, I am Patton. Patton Morre. I’m twenty-five, work part-time at the pet store, and I also do volunteer work. I like cats, pj’s, cookies, cartoons, playing with my pet frog, and helping people. Also I do not like spiders!” Patton was frowning as he spoke of arachnids but his smile reappeared as soon as he looked around at the other two boys.

What Logan gathered from Patton’s introduction was that Patton was simply an innocent do-gooder.

“Swell, Padre. Now it is my turn,” the prep said.

Before Logan could wonder why he had called Patton father in spanish, the preppy jerk launched into a dramatic spiel centered around himself.

“I Roman Cruz am twenty-four years of age. I had a fine experience as a young high school lad as I starred in many drama productions. Now I work at the local theatre, waiting for my big break to come. I can see myself in five years living in a large mansion- or castle, I don’t mind -with estates on both coasts that I visit with my model wife and darling children.” He ended his little speech with a smile that made Logan want to gag up his Crofters.

Patton clapped and smiled. “That sounds like a nice goal!”

Logan, on the other hand, had to keep from snorting at basically everything Roman just said. 1. He’s a narcissistic jerk, 2. He has a completely irrational dream, 3. He thinks he'll get a wife.

Logan then realized they were waiting for him to speak. “I suppose it is my turn to go. My name is Logan Logue, age twenty-three. I work part-time at the grocery store, and I am still finishing up a few of my college degrees. Likes include reading, doing research, and organizing plans.” Logan decided against including eating jam straight from the jar since he’s realized that people don’t think too highly of men with a jam addiction. 

“Wow,” Roman laughed, “You really are just a huge ner-”

“Roman!” Patton interrupted again, “What did I say about calling people that?”

Roman sighed. “To not to?”

“Yes. Now apologize to Logan.”

“Logan, I’m sorry,” Roman said reluctantly.

“Thank you. Now I think that if we’re nice to each other…”

Patton droned on about behavior while Roman mouthed nerd at Logan. He just rolled my eyes and turned back to Patton, who was now suggesting that they watch a movie.

“I’m afraid I cannot,” Logan said, getting up. “I have some homework I must attend to. But I hope you enjoy your movie.” He was only speaking to Patton, not the royal jerk known as Roman Cruz. He couldn't care less whether or not he enjoyed their movie.

“Thanks.” Patton smiled at him, and he had to admit he had an attractive smile. “How does Winnie-the-Pooh sound to you, kiddo?” he asked Roman.

“Nah, we’re watching Frozen,” the jerk replied, turning on the film without hearing Patton’s opinion first.

Logan walked upstairs to his new room, leaving his roommates to watch a silly cartoon.


	3. The Dark Gray Town House

When Virgil entered the dark house carrying his duffel bag, he was greeted by a short man standing in the foyer. Virgil sighed, he had hoped that he wouldn’t have to introduce himself to his new roommates yet.

He paused his alt rock playlist and removed his headphones to greet the man. But then Virgil realized that this couldn’t be his roommate. The man wore an expensive gray blazer over a bright yellow shirt and had neat tight curls falling to the side of his face. He dressed way too fancy to be sharing the rent of a small town house. The weirdest thing, however, wasn’t his outfit, but the large birthmark on his face. The entire right side of this man’s face was a white splotch on his otherwise perfect dark skin. He additionally had piercing yellow eyes like a cat. Or a snake.

“Hello Virgil Andre,” the strange man said. Virgil was sure now more than ever that he wasn’t his roommate.

“Sup. Are you the landlord?” Virgil assumed.

The man made a face. “No, I’m your roommate.”

Virgil blushed, ashamed he had just made a mistake. “Sorry, I just assumed- you knew my name and you look-”

“I look how?” The man raised a slit eyebrow at Virgil, daring him to say something about how he looked.

“Nothing,” Virgil said softly, “I’m sorry. But how do you know my name?”

“We all received an email containing a description about our roommates. I know you, Virgil, are twenty-one, a college dropout, and a worker at Hot Topic. I also know a bit about our other roommate, Remus Cruz. Although he hasn’t arrived yet. Did you not read the email?” 

Virgil pursed his lips, a bit frightened that this man knew so much about him. “Yeah, I didn’t read it, sorry.”  
“No worries, Virgil. You can go ahead and pick out your room upstairs. And when you’re done, you can come downstairs and join me for lunch if you want. It won’t be finished for a while though,” he said with such politeness it made Virgil feel uneasy. But that wasn’t saying much since almost everything made Virgil feel uneasy.

“Okay. Thanks,” Virgil said, trudging upstairs. As strange as the man was, Virgil had to admit that he seemed pretty nice.

As soon as Virgil dropped his duffel bag down in the first room, he pulled out his laptop and opened that email the man must’ve been talking about. It did indeed give the information about Virgil and his two roommates. He read their descriptions.

Remus Cruz- age: 24, occupation: garbage man, other information: high school dropout

That’s it? Wondered Virgil, That isn’t much information.

But it seemed he had spoken too soon, because the next description was even less. In fact it only had the name and age.

Janus De Serio- age: 26

Virgil knew instantly that it must’ve been the man downstairs. He then wondered why there was no occupation about Janus. It couldn’t be because he didn’t have a job, his outfit was way too expensive for that. Then Virgil wondered if Janus had an illegal job like a hitman or something.

Virgil walked towards the window and looked outside. Across the street, he could see a man carrying a glass tank out of his car. He spotted Virgil and gave a friendly wave. Virgil gave a hesitant wave back and then ran away from the window, slightly freaked by his small interaction.

Later, he spotted another man carrying stuff inside the house. Virgil had to say he was kinda hot looking, but he was immediately disappointed when he saw him appreciating his own looks in the rear window of the mini-van.

One more man went into the house across the street, and there was nothing funny about him. He just exited the taxi and started bringing in his luggage ASAP. Like an actual normal person.

After a few more minutes of staying in his room and avoiding the potential murderer downstairs, Virgil heard the door slam open and somebody stomp in. “Honey, I’m home!” a raspy voice called.

“Ah, you must be Remus Cruz,” Janus said. Even from upstairs, Virgil could hear the distaste in his voice.

Virgil crept onto the stair landing and stayed silent in the corner so that the two wouldn’t realize his presence.

The man named Remus was even more peculiar than Janus. He was tall with tan skin and hair dyed silver. His chin had a slight beard but also a disney villain moustache. He wore a bright green vest over a tight black shirt and ripped jean shorts exposing his hairy legs. He also wore sleeveless gloves and brown hiking boots. And Virgil thought he was the eyeliner lord? Nah. This guy took it way further, so that he resembled a racoon. He reminded Virgil of a troll that lived under a bridge, or maybe a human version of Oscar the Grouch.

“No way. Is that you Dee? Don’t you remember that we were friends back in highschool?” Remus said, rushing to give Janus a hug.

Janus pushed him away before he got the chance. “Oh yes, please bring up that embarrassing nickname. I appreciate that so much.” He frowned. “And I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.”

“Oh it’s fine. I was two years behind you. Perhaps you knew my brother? He was kinda popular?” Virgil saw the look on Remus’s face and knew that Remus didn’t like being in his brother’s shadow. Whoever he was.

Janus shrugged and changed the subject. “Our roommate Virgil is already here if you’d like to meet him.” He nodded to Virgil on the stairs. He was unsure how Janus had spotted him, and it just made him feel more uneasy. “You can go get settled in upstairs and then we’ll have a nice chat over lunch. How does that sound?”

“Great! What are we eating?”

“Just some pasta. I hope you don’t mind but I’m vegetarian.”

Remus scoffed dramatically. “I do mind. I am a carnivore. I only eat meat and trash.”

“That can’t be healthy,” Virgil muttered from the landing.

Remus spun his head towards Virgil and stared at him with his crazed look. “What did you say, emo?”

Virgil gulped, spooked by the garbage man. “Uh nothing?”

“Hmm. Very well, I’ll go unpack and bring my own snacks to eat.” He trotted upstairs and as he passed Virgil, he could smell the stench of the garbage he’d been working in all day.

Virgil crept downstairs and sat at the sofa while Janus worked in the kitchen.

“I hope he didn’t scare you, Virgil,” Janus said, “Truthfully, I had heard of Remus in highschool. He had a reputation for being a bit, hmm, eccentric in his shenanigans.”

Everything seems to be scaring me right now, Virgil thought, fiddling with his hoodie strings.

“And I don’t mean to scare you either,” Janus said, as if he were reading his mind, “And I’m sure you’ll get used to the two of us in no time.”

Virgil had many doubts.

~~~

Remus picked out the second to last room down the hall. He didn’t have much except for a grocery bag full of snacks, a dvd of Just like Heaven, and a few other items, so he just threw that on his bed. He grabbed a post-it note and a green highlighter from his bag and labeled the door with Dukey’s Room.

The Duke is what Remus called himself. His brother had been titled the Prince, so it was only natural that Remus copied him. Remus hadn’t seen his brother since high school six years ago. He always had the lime-light, as the biggest member of drama and most creative student. Remus was creative too, so what if everyone thought he was strange.  
Remus wanted to distance himself from his brother as much as he could, but even years after they last saw each other, Remus still wanted to be like him.

After a while Janus called him downstairs for lunch, so Remus grabbed a snack from his bag and headed down to meet the others. Janus was already serving himself and Virgil a bowl of pasta, and he offered Remus some.

“No thanks,” Remus said, waving his beloved snack for them to see.

“Is- is that deodorant?” Virgil asked, shock filling his face as Remus took a bite.

“Yes. The flavor’s pickled poo logs. Would you like some?” He held it out for Virgil to take a bite.

“Nope. I’m good.” Virgil then stared at his pasta as if he had lost his appetite.

“You’re eating the food I made for you,” Janus commanded as if he were a strict mother.

“Okay.” Virgil complied.

“And you.” Janus turned towards him, his lips pursed in disgust. “You cannot eat deodorant. As much as you annoy me, I don’t want you to die, so I ask that you partake in this meal.”

Remus frowned. Was he really already annoying Janus and Virgil five minutes into living with them? “Don’t tell me what to do,” he snapped, “You can’t order me around like this kid.” He gestured to Virgil who seemed to be enjoying his food.

“He wasn’t ordering me around,” Virgil muttered, “I’m just eating-”

“Oh shut up, emo. I’m not eating your food, just leave me be.” Remus took a triumphant bite of his deodorant and stomped upstairs.

After he slammed the door and layed down on his new bed, he opened up a showtunes playlist on his phone. It reminded him of his brother. It reminded him of Roman.


	4. Work Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: nerd and emo shaming again (seriously Roman?)

At six in the morning, Remus was the first to leave for work. As he was a garbage man, he had to get up early in the morning to start his collecting.

When he was walking through the kitchen, he saw Virgil sitting on the kitchen counter with a cup of coffee. "Hey," he greeted him. He looked as if he had stayed up the whole night.

"Farewell, my dear emo. I leave for work." Remus exited the house with a flourish.

He walked a few blocks to the garbage center, got in his truck, and drove around the county. His first stop was actually the neighborhood of townhouses he had just moved into. No better way of getting to know the neighbors than by sifting through their trash! Remus thought joyfully.

Was going through people's trash and stealing things of value despicable? Yes. Was it illegal? Probably. Did that stop Remus? Absolutely not!

The first house was the pale blue one across the street from theirs. In their bin was an empty pack of cookies, a wipe with a squashed spider, and a few pieces of paper with writing on them. A few of the papers just had math work on them, so that was truly trash. But the other papers caught Remus's eye.

Somebody had written really good music, the lyrics and the tune, on lined paper and just thrown it away! Normally Remus wouldn't enjoy such sappy lyrics, but the work reminded him of someone. So he shoved it into his pocket and continued down the houses.

~~~

The next to leave was Logan. He started his classes at ten in the morning, and then worked at the grocery store for a few hours in the afternoon. He was still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes when he passed by the kitchen to find Patton awake and cheery as ever.

"Good morning, Logan!" he smiled, "I'm so sorry, but I haven't had the chance to get groceries yet, so I don't have any lunch to pack for you."

"Oh that's quite alright, Patton." Logan almost blushed at the thought of someone wanting to pack him food. "I'll grab something at the store." And yes, Logan did mean food beside Crofter's. He knew what a balanced meal was: half jam and half whatever else people ate.

"Okay, well have a great day at school, kiddo!"

"Thank you, Patton. I hope your day is enjoyable as well." Logan walked out onto the sidewalk where his classmates were waiting to drive him into the city.

Upon arriving in his first class, physcology, he was immediately berated by his professor. "Logan, you're falling behind in my class. If you get below a C, your scholarship will be revoked."

Logan sighed. Lately he had been getting less than ideal grades in all of his classes. His teachers recommended that he take less classes to lessen the stress, but Logan was confident he would pull through.

"I apologize, professor. Lately I've been studying more-"

"I don't want you to over strain yourself, Logan. Do you remember the Yerks-Dodson chart we went over yesterday? How we learned that too much anxiety is troublesome? The same goes for the stress caused by over-applying yourself in school. I recommend that you loosen up a bit and take some time for yourself."

The professor strolled away and Logan rolled his eyes. He knew that the only way to get better in school was to study more, so that's what he would do.

~~~

Right after Logan left for school, Roman jumped down the stairs and laughed. "A carpool? Does Book Germ really have friends, or are they people in his chess club?"

Patton sighed. "Stop being mean to Logan. What makes you think it's okay to pick on him?"

"Well, he has glasses. You know, like a nerd."

"But I have glasses."

"Yes, but your glasses are cool," Roman smiled.

"Well, thank you, but-"

"Anyway, Pat, I gotta leave for work. So I bid you adieu." Roman bowed dramatically and started to walk towards the door.

"Hey, Roman? Do you walk everyday to work?" Patton asked.

"Um, yes. A mile and a half to work. That's why I should probably get going..." Roman pointed to the door.

"But it's so hot here in Florida. And well, I noticed that your shoes are a bit, er, weathered." Roman frowned. He knew his shoes sucked, but he didn't like it when people pointed it out. "And I was wondering if you would mind if I drove you to your job?"

Roman gave a kind smile. "I appreciate the thought, Padre, but I couldn't ask that of you."

"Oh nonsense. I'm driving to work too, so it's no trouble on my part." He jangled his keys. "Come on!"

"If you insist," Roman said, following Patton into his beat-up minivan.

The drive was only a few minutes and it was spent singing along to disney music. At one point in time, they passed by a man wearing a dark hoodie walking on the side of the road.

"Would you look at that emo freak," Roman scoffed.

Patton gave Roman another glare. "What did I say about the name calling?"

"Oh just wait to you here all the new names I got for Logan-"

"Roman no! Anyway, I was gonna say that that man we just passed is one of our neighbors from across the street. I was thinking we could meet them later?"

Roman nodded, not really paying attention. They were nearing the theatre where he worked and his mind was focused on getting promoted.

"Well, bye Padre. I'll see you this afternoon," he said, jumping out of the car.

"Okay, bye kiddo," Patton waved, "Oh, and I'm going to the store after work today. Is there anything you want me to pick up?"

"Sugary cereal. Specifically Fruit Loops," he requested before walking into the building.

Before he even got a chance to appreciate the cool air conditioned room he had just stepped into, Roman's boss came up to him. His name was Mr. McGee, but Roman just called him Mr. Doo-doo Face McGee

"You're early, Cruz," he said, as if that were a suspicious thing.

"Yes, I had a friend drive me today. So I should be pretty punctual from now on."

McGee scowled. "Don't think that just because you have a friend to rely on for charity now, that I'd hire you as an actor. You have to work for that, boy."

Roman felt his heart shatter. Gosh, his boss was such a jerk. "But sir, I have been working hard the entire year I've been here-"

"Yes, and we do appreciate your work, Cruz. Now please, would you go assist Allison with filing some papers?" McGee asked, although it was more of an order.

"Yes sir," Roman muttered, walking away to go do some trivial job. When he told Patton and Logan that he was an actor, that was a lie. He truly just did small jobs around the theatre like filing papers, sweeping the stage, or *gag* taking out the trash. Pretty pathetic, right?

Roman went into Allison's office. She was Mr. McGee's wife and also the casting director. So when Roman was around her, he would usually drop subtle hints about his talent.

"Greetings and salutations Mrs. McGee. You need help filing some papers?" Roman said with a smile.

She didn't even look up from her magazine, just pointed to a stack of files on her desk.

Roman started to talk while organizing the papers. "I see that you're going to be putting on a new show next week. If you need any more actors, I could see if I'm free?" He smiled hopefully.

Mrs. McGee flipped a page in her magazine.

Roman's eyes landed on one file titled Shakespeare and he hatched another idea. "Shakespeare? Oh, I just adore his plays. Did you know that I played Macbeth in my high school production?"

Mrs. McGee stayed silent, so Roman cleared his throat and showed off some of his lines. " 'Is this a dagger which I see before me / the handle toward my hand?' "

Mrs. McGee still didn't speak.

Roman worked silently for another minute until, "Do you mind if I sing while I work? I sometimes like to sing." He sang Freeze Your Brain from Heathers until Mrs. McGee set down her magazine.

Roman was hopeful for a moment until he watched her pick up another and start reading that.

Roman groaned. "Oh come on! I am giving you acting GOLD and you are giving me NOTHING!"

Mrs. McGee finally looked up and met Roman's eyes. She sighed and set down her magazine that was so important. "Look kid, I ain't looking to hire some child who thinks he can act. I just want you to file my papers. M'kay?"

"But Mrs. McGee, I am really, really talented. If you would just give me chance-"

"What did I say? We hire actors based on their experience and skill, not on their ability to annoy me."

That stung, but didn't stop Roman's persistence. "What about a writer? I can write music, lyrics, dialogue, you name it! Just say the word and I'll get on it!"

"I said no, kid. Now get out of my office. Can't you see I'm reading?"

Roman left her office and looked at his shoes. He didn't know why he still worked here, all it did was bruise his ego. There was one appealing thing about working here though. Sometimes after everyone left, Roman would stand on the stage and perform to an empty audience. He'd imagine people cheering for him, and he'd almost feel satisfied.

~~~

Patton entered the pet shop with a big smile on his face. He loved working there, surrounded by all the cute animals. The only bad thing about the job was that they had a large tarantula there. But nobody ever bought it since it was scary.

It was a slow day at the store that day, so Patton was able to leave right after his shift. Normally, he would go work a few more hours volunteering to help the homeless, but since he errands to run today, he had to skip that. Patton felt a bit guilty, but buying food for his roommates would technically be feeding the poor so all was well.

He entered the grocery store named Thomas' and grinned when he saw a familiar face at the cash register. There he saw Logan leaning over his textbooks while eating a pb&j sandwich.

"Oh my gosh, hi Logan!" Patton said, running over to greet him.

Logan looked up and gave a polite nod. "Hello, Patton. How can I help you?"

"Oh, I'm just picking up some groceries. Do you want me to get anything in particular?"

"I'm fine, thank you."

"Okay. Roman requested Fruit Loops, but I think those are too sugary so I think I'm just gonna grab him some Cheerios."

"I agree. But maybe you should spike his cereal with sleeping pills so we don't have to deal with him so much," Logan said with the most calm demeanor one could have while suggesting something to vile.

"Logan Logue! I am astonished that you would think of doing something like that!" Patton scolded, "I know Roman is a bit rude to you, but that doesn't mean you can say stuff like that."

Logan gave a small smirk. It was the first time Patton saw him actually express an emotion.

"Hey, you look kinda cute when you smile," he blurted out.

"Uh..." Logan flustered.

"Oh, sorry if saying that made you uncomfortable, but it was nice to see you smile."

Logan returned to his stoic disposition and pushed up his glasses with one finger. "That could hardly be defined as a smile. I think smirk would be a more appropriate word."

Patton slightly shook his head at Logan's stubbornness to be emotionless. "But you do admit it, you did smile/smirk?"

Logan just shrugged.

"Alright, I'm gonna go shop. See you in a few!"

~~~

Logan waved as Patton walked off. Such a strange man he was, Logan had never met anybody so friendly... at least, friendly towards him.

Logan turned back to his studying. Even though his teachers requested that he stop studying so much, Logan was still going to do it. Besides, his boss didn't care if he was studying during work.

When Patton returned and started to put his items on the belt, he looked at Logan's textbooks. "Physcology, AP biology, AP Chemistry, AP Calculus,..." he listed off all of the books Logan had, "How do you study them all? I would not be able to juggle all those classes."

"Well, it would be awfully difficult to try and juggle all of these textbooks," Logan deadpanned.

Patton chuckled, "That was another expression. But seriously, how do you manage all these?"

Logan shrugged. "It's no problem for me," he said, which was a lie.

"Impressive," Patton grinned.

When Patton was about to pay for the groceries, Logan stopped him. "I'll take half of it."

"Really?"

"Well, we are roommates and we're going to be sharing this food."

"Gee, thanks." Patton gave that cute smile again. "What about Roman?"

"Who? Oh sorry, I'd just rather forget about his existence all together."

Patton laughed. "Hye, you just made a joke. A rude joke... but it was still a joke!"

Logan smiled discreetly, proud that he had made Patton laugh.

"Say Logan, what time do you get off?" Patton asked.

"My shift ends in half an hour."

"Do you want me to wait with you so I can drive you home?"

"That would be appreciated." Logan thought it was nice that he cared enough to offer that.

~~~

Virg worked at Hot Topic. It was a decent job, they played nice music and he got a discount on all the cool merch. There was a problem with all of the teenagers coming in though. Teenagers scared the living sh*t out of him.

When he arrived home that evening, Remus was there but Janus was nowhere to be found. Virgil found that odd since he had already left before Virgil woke up at nine that morning.

"Do you know where Janus is?" he asked.

"Work, I suppose," Remus shrugged. Virgil noticed he was acting pretty calm, but he realized that was just because he was watching a horror movie.

"Cool. Well, I'll be in my room." He walked up the stairs and stared out the window while listening to his edgy music.

He saw the neighbors arrive home. First, the friendly blonde one and the normal dark-haired one pulled up in the mini-van. The blonde one was talking to the dark-haired one while he nodded following along.

A while later, he saw the arrogant one walk down the street looking tired and angry. He seemed to be crying, but composed himself before stepping inside. As annoying as Virgil already found him, he did seem intriguing. Maybe he wasn't as confident as he seemed.

It wasn't until seven-thirty that Janus arrived home. "I'm sorry for being home so late. Unfortunately, I will be kept at work pretty late sometimes," he said.

You are definitely a murderer, Virgil conspired. It was the only logical explanation.

As Janus started brewing up supper, he listened to the nature documentary Remus was now watching. "An interesting fact about male snakes is that they have two pe-"

"I have a pet snake, you know," Janus said.

"Really?" both Remus and Virgil asked.

Janus nodded. "It's in my room if you'd like to see."

The two ran up the steps, eager to see the exotic creature. They were delighted to see a large yellow anaconda in a glass tank.

"Woah," Remus said in mesmerization.

"His name is Ethan," Janus said, behind them.

"Cool name," said Virgil.

"Thanks, I totally picked it out myself." He said that with sarcasm, which really confused Virgil. "Would you like to pet him?"

"I'm good, thanks," Virgil said, a bit scared to pet a snake so large.

"Ooh, ooh. I'll pet him!" Remus volunteered.

"Actually, you can't pet him," Janus said.

"Why not?" asked Remus, the smile falling off of his face.

"Because," Janus smirked, "He likes to eat rats like you."

Virgil snickered and tried to hide it. Maybe Janus wasn't so bad.


	5. Meeting the Neighbors

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Roman being a bully

"We're home!" Patton announced once he and Logan returned from the store. He waved to Roman who was watching Disney Channel on the TV.

"Great! Did you get my Fruit Loops?" he asked, getting up to check the bags for his rainbow colored circles.

"Sorry, kiddo," Patton shook his head.

"We decided that that would be too sugary of a breakfast for a working man. Patton picked out a healthier alternative for you." Logan handed him the yellow box of Cheerios.

Roman groaned dramatically. "But I wanted Fruit Loops. You couldn't even get me the honey ones?"

The two shrugged and carried the bags into the kitchen.

"So Logan," Patton started while they stocked the fridge, "I was thinking that before we all head out tomorrow, we should go across the street and meet the neighbors. I caught a glimpse of them the other day and they seem like nice folks."

"I suppose that would be a polite thing to do," Logan said, not showing if he would enjoy doing it or if he'd rather not.

"Great!" Patton said, "Roman, have you decided if you wanna come too?"

"Sure, Padre," he shrugged from the couch.

"Okay. Then after I make supper, we should go to bed for the night so we can wake up bright and early to greet our new friends!"

~

But things didn't exactly go according to plan. The three did go up to their rooms at eight-thirty, Roman and Patton being the only ones who actually slept. Logan stayed up studying, but he was used to getting only a few hours of sleep each night, so he was fine.

The problem? At around midnight loud party music started blasting through the house. "The heck?!" Patton bolted out of bed, startled.

He listened to the music and realized that it was coming from the house next door that they shared a wall with. Well, this seemed like an easy fix. He'd just have to pop right over and kindly asked them to turn down their music.

He jumped downstairs wearing his beloved cat onesie, and walked outside to the next house. He rang the doorbell and was greeted by a pink-haired man wearing a leather jacket and sunglasses. "What you want, girl?"

"Um, I'm not a girl," Patton corrected, "And I wanted to ask you if you could turn your music down? You see, my roommates and I are-"

The man loudly sipped his starbucks drink, interrupting Patton. He wasn't sure why someone would need to drink coffee at night, or wear sunglasses inside at night for that matter, but Patton was a but annoyed by this.

"Remy Slowikowski," he held out his arm for Patton to shake, but he didn't take it. "You live next door?"

"Yeah, I-"

"Cool, I'm your landlord," he said, taking another sip of his drink.

Patton couldn't believe that this slacker was his landlord. "Okay... as I was trying to say, my roommates and I are trying to sleep and I'd really appreciate it if you could just turn your music down." He smiled widely while Remy just stared at him.

"And why should I?" Remy asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Well, uh, because it's the nice thing to do," Patton suggested, but that didn't seem to be a good enough reason for Remy.

"Sorry, girl, but come back when you have a legit reason." And he closed the door in Patton's face.

He wanted to knock down the door and demand that Remy turn down his music, but Patton didn't want to lose his cool, so he turned around and went back home. When he entered through the door, he saw Roman coming down the stairs with a sleeping mask pulled over his hair away from his eyes.

"Patton, can you please tell me why this ruckus is interrupting my beauty sleep?" he asked in an annoyed tone that made it sound like he was blaming Patton, which ticked him off a bit.

Patton chewed on his lip. "It's the landlord next door. I asked him to turn it down, but he didn't listen. Sorry kiddo, but just try to sleep."

Roman turned around and walked up the stairs. Patton could've sworn he heard him mutter, "Wow, Padre. You couldn't get my cereal and you couldn't stop the music. What else are you going to mess up for me?"

Patton rushed to his room after that and clutched his stuffed cat while sitting in bed. He tossed and turned in an attempt to sleep, but the loud music was getting on his nerves. He barely got any sleep.

~~~

Logan stayed quiet while he heard Patton pass his door. He didn't want Patton to see what he was wearing, which was a childish unicorn onesie.

Patton also sounded a bit angry. Sure, the music was a small inconvenience to their peace and Roman probably said something rude because that's what he does best, but Logan never expected the 'puffball' to get angry.

As he heard Patton enter his room, Logan pressed his ear against the wall to hear what was going on in there.

It was silent. He could hear Patton in there, but he didn't seem to be doing anything. Nothing that would show he was angry. Logan was impressed, Patton might be better at repressing his feelings than Logan was.

Still, Logan hoped Patton was okay, and he put away his books and fell asleep since it was what Patton had asked him to do hours ago.

~

When Logan came downstairs the next morning, he was greeted by two sleep-deprived roommates.

Roman layed on the coach whining. "Uuuugh, I only got, like, seven hours of sleep last night!"

Logan rolled his eyes. He could survive seven hours of sleep a week. This further proved that Roman was weak.

Logan did feel sorry for Patton though. He was standing at the kitchen counter, staring off into nothing. He looked about ready to pass out.

"Are you okay?" Logan asked him.

"Wuh?" Patton looked up as if he didn't realize Logan was there. "Oh yeah, I'm fine, I'm fine."

"Did you not sleep much last night?"

Patton just shrugged.

Logan turned towards the kitchen and started brewing two cups of coffee. When he was done, he offered one to Patton.

"Oh, no thank you," Patton said, "I don't drink coffee."

"Ooh, ooh," Roman waved from the sofa, "I'll take it." He held out his hand for Logan to give him the mug.

Logan frowned at the little bratty baby and placed the mug onto the highest shelf where only he could reach. "Get it yourself."

He then quietly sipped his coffee with Patton who was still waking up. The only sound was from Roman struggling to get the coffee.

Eventually, he reached the cup and smiled triumphantly. "Yes, finally! You may have delayed my drink, you Iron Giant Nerd, but you can never stop me!" But before he could take a sip, Patton spoke.

"I think we should probably go meet the neighbors now," he said.

Roman groaned, and Logan could've sworn he saw Patton glare at him for a nanosecond.

"Are you sure you're up for that, Patton?" he asked.

"Yeah, yeah. I want to go meet them!" Patton smiled, covering up the fact that he was struggling to stay awake just moments ago. "Let's go!"

The three of them walked across the street to the dark grey house with a peculiar yellow door. "Can I ring the doorbell?!" Roman asked. He then rang it anyway without anyone saying that he could.

When somebody answered the door, Patton gasped when he saw the man. Logan thought that might be rude, especially coming from Patton, but he figured it was only because he was tired. The man who had answered the door was short with a white birthmark covering half his face. He smiled at the three of them and held out his hand for Patton to shake. "Janus De Serio. I'm assuming you three are from the house across the street?"

Patton nodded but didn't take Janus's hand. He had a strange expression on his face that may have been distaste. Logan wasn't sure why Patton didn't seem to like Janus, when he seemed to like everyone else.

"Virgil!" Janus called inside the house, "Do you want to meet the neighbors?"

A moment later a younger man with purple bangs, a dark purple hoodie, and heavy black eyeshadow appeared in the doorway. " 'Sup," he muttered shyly.

Patton did seem to take a liking to him, however. "Hey kiddo! I'm Patton Morre, and these are my roommates Roman Cruz and Logan Logue."

"Uh, Virgil Andre," Virgil introduced himself. Then, he and Janus shared a glance. "Wait, did you say Cruz?" he asked.

Roman scrowled. He didn't seem to like either of them. "Yeah, what about it?"

"Oh nothing," Janus shrugged it off, "It's just that... We have a third roommate, but he's currently at work. He should be home any minute now..."

"Honey, I'm home!" Logan heard a voice behind him call. He saw Janus and Virgil roll their eyes at the newcomer.

"I know that voice..." Roman muttered. He looked like he was thinking which must've been very hard for him. He whipped around to face them. "Remus!"

Logan turned around to see a disgusting man with an equally disgusting smile. He slightly resembled Roman. "Hello, brother."

"You have a brother?" Patton whispered while both Logan and Virgil asked, "There's two of them?" in unison.

"What are you doing here?" Roman growled approaching his brother who must've been called Remus.

"What? Not happy to see your dear twin?" Remus teased.

"Ugh, you disgust me, you- you dumpster fire with legs."

"Oh surely you can come up with something better than that. You were always considered the more creative out of us."

Roman scoffed. "You're still salty about that?"

"Yes! I had good ideas too! Not that anyone listened."

"Well maybe people didn't listen to you because your idea of a fun time was arson!" Roman spat. "You know what?! I'm leaving! Years ago we promised to never speak to each other again, so let's abide by that." He ran back home while Remus stomped inside his house.

Virgil looked as confused as he and Patton were, but Janus just looked annoyed. "Well as you can see, I've got an upset trash man to take care of so I ask that you leave now. It was so good meeting you three." He closed the door on Patton's frowning face.

"I don't like him," he told Logan.

Again, Logan was surprised to find that Patton could dislike anyone. "Nothing seemed wrong with him to me."

The two turned around and walked back across the street. "We should go check on Roman."

~~~

What was he doing here? Roman thought as he curled up on the couch. Did he really have to show up? He was going to ruin everything like he always did.

Remus was Roman's twin brother. His evil twin brother. When they were ten, their parents separated them when they got divorced. Roman grew up to be normal, while Remus was like his disgusting clone.

The two ended up going to the same highschool which was a nightmare. Roman would've had an otherwise perfect highschool experience if Remus wasn't there to mess it up. Not only did he taint his reputation by always getting in trouble, he would sometimes even pretend to be Roman and make everyone believe he did bad stuff.

After they graduated, they promised they would never speak again since their contradicting personalities were just too much. But here Remus was, showing up eight years later right across the street from Roman.

"Kiddo?" He heard Patton come inside, probably followed by Logan. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Roman muttered as the two sat down beside him.

"Interesting," Logan said, "I didn't know you have a twin brother. And identical too. I've always found the concept of identical twin fascinating-"

"Logan," Patton hissed.

"Yeah, Calculator Watch, do you really gotta turn my problem into a science lecture?" Roman asked.

Logan sighed, but let Patton talk.

"So what was that all about? You don't really seem to like your brother."

"Of course I don't like him! Tell me Patton, would you be proud to be related to something like that?" Roman asked.

Patton shrugged. "I guess not. But what happened between the two of you?"

Roman quickly summarized his relationship with his brother. You could tell he was upset since he didn't include any dramatic theatrics.

"I'm sorry about that, kiddo," Patton comforted him, "We'll just stay away from him."

"That's a terrible way to deal with this," Logan commented.

"What do you mean by that?" asked Patton.

"Oh, I just mean that it seems like you're running away from this. Instead, Roman should talk to his brother so that they can repair their damaged relationship," he explained, "And you Patton, I'm surprised that you immediately took an antipathy towards both Janus and Remus. Knowing you, if you'd just spend more time with them, you'd love them uncontrollably."

Patton frowned. "That's not true. And besides, I don't trust those two... I sense an evil aura from them."

"I sense it from all of them," Roman said, "The emo included."

Logan rolled his eyes again. "An aura," he muttered, "How ridiculous. Patton, why is it that you care for Roman, who, by the way, is probably one the rudest people I've met since the varsity athletes in high school, but you immediately hate two strangers?"

"Hey!" Roman demanded, "Are you calling me evil?!"

"I'm not calling anyone evil. That's the point," Logan said, "This is real life, not some fairy tale. These people deserve a chance from you just like anyone else."

"You say that like you're the expert on being friendly to strangers," Roman accused, "Yet you're the one who shuts people out before you get to know them."

Logan stood up and straightened his tie and glared at Roman. "Well it's usually because I have a reason to not like them. And it's that the first word to cross their lips is 'nerd'." He turned around and started to exit the house. "I have to leave for school now, but I hope you two think about what I said."

When he closed the door behind him, the first thing Roman did wasn't laugh. But instead he sat pondering on those words. They held some truth, but Logan still didn't understand what it was like to have Remus as a brother. He had given him chances before and they always ended terribly.

As for Virgil, he had never liked emo kids with their loud music and terrible taste in clothes and make up. And he didn't trust Janus because Patton didn't trust him and Patton could usually be counted on for reading peoples' personalities.

~

That evening, Patton still drove Logan home, but he was still p*ssed. At least as far as Roman could tell. He stayed silent the entire afternoon, even when he was making supper.

However, before they headed up to bed, Logan stopped them. "At the store I picked these up." He opened his palm to reveal a few pairs of noise cancelling ear plugs. "They should do something about the music next door."

Patton smiled softly while taking them, "Thanks, Logan."

"Yeah," Roman said, reaching out for a pair, "Thanks, Teach."

Logan recoiled his hand and gave Roman a look.

He sighed, but figured it wouldn't hurt to be nice for just a moment. "Thank you, Logan."

Logan smiled and handed Roman the ear plugs. "You're very welcome," he said smugly as he walked up the stairs to his room.

As Roman settled in for the night, he wore the ear plugs even though they didn't cover the noise completely. So, he was still wide awake when he got a text at around ten-thirty.

New Conversation with Unknown Number

Unknown Number: Hey

Unknown Number: It's me Virgil

Why is this creepy cookie texting me? Wondered Roman. Still, he thought it would be polite to reply. And that is what Logan wanted him to do right? Be polite?

R.O.M.A.N: Greetings Virgil

R.O.M.A.N: Might I ask why you're texting me at this hour

Emo Nightmare: I just wanted to say that I don't like Remus either

This took Roman by surprise. They both were spooky disney villain-esque people. Why would Virgil not like him?

Emo Nightmare: Tbh he kinda scares me

R.O.M.A.N: Oh?

Emo Nightmare: Yeah

Emo Nightmare: He's too ornate with all his... ideas

Roman scowled. That sentence had been used to describe him in the past, and here was this emo nightmare saying it like it was a bad thing.

R.O.M.A.N: Well I'll have you know that I have been described as ornate and eccentric and I take pride in that

R.O.M.A.N: I take great offense in you comparing me to my brother

Emo Nightmare: What?

Emo Nightmare: I wasn't comparing u to Remus

Emo Nightmare: I didn't think u were anything like him

Emo Nightmare: Turns out I was wrong

See? Roman tried to be nice and see what good that did him?


	6. Emo Meets World

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Roman; they talk about Harry Potter but that does not mean I support JK Rowling's transphobic tweets

Virgil cursed himself after Roman left him on read. He didn't even want to talk to him in the first place, but Janus gave him everyone's number and insisted he talk to them.

Whatever. He didn't care. He didn't even want to be friends with Roman anyways.

Janus wanted him to talk to everyone in the house across the street, although Virgil wasn't sure why since Janus didn't seem to like them that much.

He had already texted Logan, who had responded with "It's 10:20 pm. I advise that you go to bed." and then sent him an article about sleeping schedules for teens. Virgil was not a teen, and he didn't like how everyone thought he was so young.

He had one more person to message, so he thought he'd better get it over with.

New Conversation with Patton

Virge: Hey

Virge: It's me Virgil

Patton: Oh hey, kiddo!

Virgil winced at 'kiddo' but didn't say anything.

Patton: What are you doing up so late?

Virge: Couldn't sleep i guess

Patton: 😟😟😟

Patton: Me neither

Patton: There's really loud music playing next door

Virge: Sounds rough

Patton: Yeah

Patton: I'll make a deal with you

Patton: If you try to go to sleep, I will too

Virge: Sounds good to me

Patton: Yay! 😄😄😄

Patton: Oh, and Virgil?

Virge: Ye?

Patton: Do you wanna come over tomorrow?

Virgil really hated being with people, so he didn't feel too great about that. But even over text he could imagine Patton's face, and he couldn't say no to that.

Virge: Sure

Patton: Yay! See you then! 😁😁😁

Oh, great.

~~~

It was the weekend which meant Logan didn't have to go to school. This normally would've been a good thing since he'd have extra time to study, but now it meant that he'd be stuck in a house that also contained the most insufferable egotistical brat in this solar system.

Basically, he didn't want to see Roman. Patton, on the other hand, was fine. He had shocked Logan with his stubborn hatred towards Janus and Remus, but then again, Logan didn't care much for them either, so it was fine.

Logan went downstairs and started to make some toast. A moment later, Patton came down to greet him.

"Good morning, Logan! How are y- oh holy heck!"

Logan looked at Patton confused. His face was almost the color of strawberry Crofters and he was staring right at Logan.

"Why are you so flustered, Patton?" he asked. In the back of his mind something told him that he had caused Patton to blush and that thought made him feel a bit giddy.

"Logan! You're- you're wearing jeans!" Patton gasped.

"I am," Logan said, "But I wear jeans everyday."

"Yeah, but these are more casual. I didn't even know you could dress like that," he said in awe.

Logan didn't understand what the big deal was. Yes, he was wearing an outfit different from what he'd wear on the weekdays- a dark blue t-shirt with small specks of glitter tucked into a pair of faded blue jeans -but it wasn't like he was going to wear his uniform on the weekends.

"It looks cute on you," Logan heard Patton mumble so he did the sensible thing and said, "Thank you."

Patton blushed again like he hadn't met to say that. Logan had to admit that Patton was dressed in a cute outfit as well: a loose pink sweater and pastel blue jeans.

Logan's toast popped out of the toaster so he pulled out a jar of Crofters and started to spread the jelly on.

"Did you just... pull grape jam out of your pocket?" Patton asked.

"Yes," Logan answered, "And I have strawberry in my other pocket."

Patton laughed like it was a joke, but Logan was serious.

Then Logan's day immediately got worse, because his royal highness walked into the room. "Greetings, my dear Padre!" he said to Patton, "And... hi to you too, Logan."

He frowned at Roman and bit into his toast. But then he smiled, because how could he possibly frown while eating Crofter's?

"Oh, I have an announcement to make, kiddos!" Patton said, "We are gonna have a visitor today!"

"Oh great," Roman and Logan muttered in unison.

"Oh it'll be fun, trust me. It's just Virgil. From across the street."

Roman dramatically sighed. "Really? Why'd it have to be Doctor Gloom? I don't like him."

"Oh come on, Roman. Give him a chance. You'll like him eventually," said Patton.

Logan almost laughed at the hypocrisy, but that would've been mean. And Logan is not mean. Now back to the whiny baby Roman.

"What time does he come over?" he groaned, "I need to know so I can bar my room off with a trail of salt."

"He comes around noon," answered Patton.

~~~

It was eleven-fifty-five. Virgil didn't want to be too early or too late so he was going to leave at twelve-o-one. Or would that be too late? He worried, Or not late enough? Agh, I'm not good at this.

"What are you doing?" Janus asked when he saw Virgil sitting on the back of the sofa, staring at the door.

"Going out," he said.

"Oh really?" Janus raised an eyebrow, "You don't strike me as one who goes out."

Virgil winced. It was true, but why say it? "Patton invited me over," he explained.

"Ah."

"What do you think of him?" asked Virgil.

"Who? Patton? Oh I think he's a very fine man."

"He doesn't seem to like you that much, does he?"

"No. And I'm afraid I don't see why. He did take a liking to you, though."

"Is that why you gave me his number?" wondered Virgil, "So I could get to know him better and you can figure him out?" _And murder him,_ he added in his mind.

"My dear Virgil, of course not," Janus said, sounding like he was lying, "I _would_ like _to_ know him better, but that's not the point. I just want you to make friends." He got a far off look in his yellow eyes. "You have the ability to make friends... people would actually like you," he said quietly.

Before Virgil could figure out what the heck that meant, he realized that it was now twelve-o-two and he was late. "Sorry, Janus, I gotta go. I'll see you later," he said as he rushed out the door and across the street to the pale blue house.

He knocked on the door and was immediately answered by Patton who pulled him into a hug. It wasn't that Virgil didn't like hugs, it's just that he didn't like human contact... much less unexpected human contact. So he just stood awkwardly as Patton squeezed him.

"I'm so glad you could come!" he beamed. Wow, no one had been so happy to see Virgil since... well, ever.

Logan walked across the living room and held out his hand for Virgil to shake. "Hello, Virgil. I'm sorry that we didn't get to have a complete introduction yesterday." Virgil hesitantly shook his hand.

"Roman!" Patton called, "Come downstairs and say hi to Virgil!"

The grumpy prep walked down the steps with his arms crossed and his face in a scowl. "Hello," he muttered.

"Wow, Princey. You don't seem so thrilled to see me," Virgil smirked.

Roman stuck his tongue out, and Patton tried to calm them down. "Now kiddos, try to be a bit more civil."

The four of them sat on the couch unsure of what to do next. There was a bowl of chips on the table, but Virgil didn't want to be the first one to take some food so he just fiddled with his sweater's drawstrings.

"So Virgil," Patton said, "Tell us a bit about yourself."

"Uh..." Virgil paused. He didn't want to talk about himself. Goodness, he was so uncomfortable here. "My name's Virgil Andre. I'm twenty-one. And I work at a store in the mall."

"What store?" Roman asked.

"Hot Topic."

"Of course," he chuckled, unamused.

"Are you in college or do you study anything at all?" Logan asked, pushing his glasses up on his face.

"No," Virgil answered, looking at his shoes, "I, uh, dropped out."

"Oh."

"What are your interests?" asked Patton, still smiling.

Virgil shrugged, "I don't know, I like music."

"Like what?"

"Mostly emo stuff. Punk rock and alternative."

"Well, do you wanna listen to some? We can listen to music together," Patton suggested.

"No." Virgil's music wasn't the type of stuff you'd listen to with other people. Especially people like these three.

"Well, we have to do something," Roman groaned, bored.

"How about we watch a movie?" Patton tried.

"Sure," Roman agreed, "You seem like a horror movie type of guy, Charlie Frown."

Virgil realized he was talking to him. "No, I hate horror movies." They were too scary.

"What about Harry Potter?" Patton suggested.

Virgil shrugged. "Fine by me."

"I prefer the books," Roman and Logan said at the same time before gasping and sending each other the death glare. Virgil wasn't sure why they'd be so angry at each other if they were agreeing.

They watched the first movie without any interruptions- except for Logan getting a bit upset when they killed the unicorn. When they were done, Patton brought up an interesting discussion. "So, what house is everybody?"

"Oh, total Gryffindor," answered Roman, "Brave, chivalrous, and a total good guy." Gosh, he was so annoying.

"You seem more like a Slytherin to me," Logan said.

Roman gasped. "No! They are the villains, and I am not a bad guy!"

"They aren't the bad guys," Virgil said, "They're actually known for being ambitious."

"You're ambitious, Roman," Patton said, "Isn't your big dream to be a big actor with a mansion?"

"Well, yeah. But that doesn't mean I'm a Slytherin."

"And we know for sure that you aren't a Hufflepuff or a Ravenclaw since you're lazy and an idiot," Logan said.

Roman gasped. "You know what, let's settle this." He pulled out his phone. "We're taking the freaking test."

"That's a great idea," Patton said, "Let's all do that. I think I'll get Hufflepuff."

"Ravenclaw, no doubt," Logan said.

"What about you, Virgil?" Patton asked.

He shrugged. "I don't know. Let's find out."

The four of them took the test and one by one they were sorted.

"Slytherin," Roman frowned, "I got seventy-one percent Slytherin, fifteen percent Hufflepuff, eight percent Gryffindor, and four percent Ravenclaw."

Logan snickered.

"Noooo!" Roman whined, "I'm not in the evil house."

Patton gasped. "I'm in Ravenclaw!"

"What? How?" Logan asked, looking at Patton's screen. "Huh, I congratulate you, Patton."

"It does make sense," Roman pondered, "He is pretty witty."

"Yes," Logan agreed, "But I am the cleverest so it makes only sense that I get- Gryffindor?!"

"You got Gryffindor?! Not fair!" Roman said.

"This does not commute," Logan said.

"Oh, it makes perfect sense to me. Because you're my hero," Patton said, batting his eyelashes at Logan.

"We get it! You're adorable!" Logan shouted, clapping between each word.

Virgil smirked thoughtfully. Honestly, these people weren't _too_ bad.

"What did you get, Virgil?" Patton asked, "Maybe you'll get Hufflepuff."

Roman scoffed. "My bet's on Slytherin."

"Is that because you think I'm evil or because you want me to be in the same house as you?" Virgil asked.

Roman blushed. "Uh, evil," he stammered.

"Sorry to disappoint, guys, but these are my results." He showed everyone the screen which had him in each house at twenty-five percent.

"Is that even possible?" Roman asked.

"That's interesting," Logan observed, "But it is just a silly system fictional book."

"I like that! That means that you can get along with people from any house. Like us!" Patton grinned and Virgil couldn't help but smile back.

Virgil was starting to get tired so he decided that he'd better leave.

"Bye, Virgil! This was really fun, we should do it more often," Patton said, hugging him again.

"Yeah. Bye, pops," Virgil said.

"Why is everyone calling Patton their father?" Logan asked, "Am I supposed to start calling him daddy now?"

Virgil almost choked.

"What? What did I say?"

"Goodness, you are dense, aren't you?" asked Roman, "Anyway, bye Hot Topic."

"Aw, you think I'm hot." Virgil smirked, leaving behind a flustered Roman as he left the house.

When he got back home, he was expecting Janus to be sitting in the middle of the room in an armchair as he pet a cat, demanding information from Virgil, but he was relieved to see that the house was empty. Except for Remus's annoying jingle music coming from upstairs. He was glad that he didn't have to deal with more people after being exhausted by that outing. Virgil went to his room and layed in bed, thinking about the three boys who he might like as friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeeeeaaaah... this is kinda a copy of the sorting episode, sorry. So, I know that Logan and Roman are giving total enemies-to-lovers vibes, but I'm just gonna keep them platonic. Ya know, enemies-to-friends. Also, did anyone catch the Carry On reference?


	7. Take a Break

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is sponsored by my uncreativity of using a title of a musical theatre song. It is also the title of many chapter in my unpublished Hamilton fic.
> 
> TW: Roman is still closeted so he's slightly homophobic, Remus being Remus, Unsympathetic!Janus at the end

The bay window was a pretty nice place to study. Since the houses were so close together, there wasn't much to see outside, but if Logan looked up he could see a few stars.

It was near three in the morning and Remy's music had been turned off a while ago, so it was completely silent. The kitchen light was turned on dim so it was just enough for Logan to read his notes.

It was his third time going over this topic, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get a perfect score when he quizzed himself. And he had to have it down by tomorrow for the test.

He was scowling at his notes when he heard a noise. He looked up to find a tired Patton coming towards him. Logan would've thought he was sleep-walking if he didn't speak to him.

"What are you doing up?" he asked groggily, sitting across from him.

"I'm studying," Logan answered.

Patton wiped his eyes. He looked different without his glasses. "Logan, it's three AM. It's way too late to be studying."

"Actually, relative to the day, it's early morning, not late."

Patton chuckled. "Please just come to bed with me."

"With- with you?" Logan hoped that the dim light and the lack of glasses would prohibit Patton from seeing how flustered he got.

Patton laughed again. "You know what I mean, silly. We'll go to bed in our respective rooms. But the important part is that you go to sleep."

"Very well," Logan said, gathering up his books, "I suppose some rest wouldn't hurt." He said goodbye to Patton and headed off to bed, hoping for a good score on the test tomorrow.

~~~

Patton pulled up by the front of Thomas' where Logan worked. He had been giving Roman a ride in the morning and Logan one in the afternoon. He figured that was fair.

A moment later, Logan walked out of the store. Patton smiled at him, but he didn't seem too happy to see him. He entered the car pretty aggressively and sat down practically steaming.

"Hey, Logan. How was sch-"

"Just go," he grumbled.

"What's wrong?"

"Just. Go."

Patton didn't push him any further and just drove off. The entire car ride was silent, but Patton watched Logan closely. He had his arms crossed, his face was in a scowl, and he seemed to be muttering to himself. _What was bothering him? ___

__When they got home, Logan grabbed his backpack and stormed off to his room. Patton stood in the foyer, picking at his sweater. "I think he's angry at me," he muttered sadly._ _

__"Oh don't take it personally, Padre," Roman said from the couch, "He's always angry at me."_ _

__"It's not hard to see why," a voice said from behind Patton. He practically jumped six feet in the air._ _

__"Oh it's just you, Virgil," he said when he saw the hooded boy standing behind him, "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in."_ _

__"What is _he _doing here?" Roman asked, disgust lacing his voice.___ _

____"I gave him a key," Patton answered, "What is it Virgil?"_ _ _ _

____Virgil wrung his hands- or his hoodie paws. "Oh, I just wanted to see if I could hang here for a bit... I could leave if you want. Sorry I didn't send a text."_ _ _ _

____"It's alright, you can stay. Wait here with Roman, I'm gonna go check on Logan."_ _ _ _

____~~~_ _ _ _

____"Uh, he doesn't really seem to be in the mood to talk- oh he's already gone," Virgil said._ _ _ _

____"Don't even try to reason with Pat," Roman said, "When it comes to his friends, he'll do whatever he thinks is best."_ _ _ _

____Virgil shrugged. "Seems like a nice dude." Then he realized he was being friendly to Roman. "Unlike you."_ _ _ _

____Roman sighed. "So what are you doing here, emo?"_ _ _ _

____"You're brother was getting on my nerves. He calls me emo too, by the way. In fact, you two are pretty similar-"_ _ _ _

____"He's not my brother," Roman growled, "And we're nothing alike!"_ _ _ _

____Virgil took a step back. "Okay."_ _ _ _

____"What's up with him though?" Roman asked after a moment._ _ _ _

____Virgil raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn't care."_ _ _ _

____Roman shrugged. "Just wondering."_ _ _ _

____"Um, he's a garbage man, everything he owns is practically garbage he found on the job. He's... loud. He's always watching tv, either action movies where he'll shout about how hot the lead male is or... another type of movie."_ _ _ _

____"He set any fires yet?"_ _ _ _

____Virgil froze. "N- no? Is he an arsonist?"_ _ _ _

____Roman shrugged again._ _ _ _

____"There's not much more to say except that he flirts with Janus all the time. But he is totally not having it."_ _ _ _

____"So he's still gay?"_ _ _ _

____Virgil did a double take. _What type of a question is that? Of course he's still gay! _"You know that if your identical twin is gay then..."___ _ _ _

______Roman blinked. He didn't seem to get the point so Virgil dropped it. "Whatever."_ _ _ _ _ _

______~~~_ _ _ _ _ _

______"Logan Logue!" Patton shouted, entering Logan's room, "You may be angry but that does not mean you have to take out your anger on us!"_ _ _ _ _ _

______He found Logan sitting on his bed, already pouring over his books. He kept running his hands through his hair, messing up his perfect combed do._ _ _ _ _ _

______"LOGAN DID YOU HEAR ME?!" Patton tried again._ _ _ _ _ _

______"Yes," he answered, not looking up, "But I'm working on something important right now."_ _ _ _ _ _

______Patton glowered. " _Nothing _is more important than how you treat your friends!"___ _ _ _ _ _

________Logan muttered something._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"What?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"You aren't my friends," he repeated._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Now Patton knew that he must've misheard him. "What?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________"I SAID YOU AREN'T MY FRIENDS!" he shouted finally, "I DON'T HAVE FRIENDS! I ONLY FOCUS ON SCHOOL, BUT NOW THAT'S GOING ALL WRONG AND I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________Patton was shocked. Did Logan really just say that to him? That he wasn't his friend? He was going to shoot back an angry remark when he turned back to Logan and saw what a terrible state he was in._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

________He was crying. _Actually _crying. Like head lying on his shoulders crying. He was obviously very troubled. And Patton's care instincts took over.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Hey, hey, it's okay," Patton said softly, crawling next to him on the bed._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"It is not okay," Logan mumbled, "I'm falling behind in my classes, and no matter how much I study I can't get any better."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Well, maybe that's your problem?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Pardon?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Maybe you're studying too much. It's healthy to make room for other stuff like leisure and sleep."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"That is what the statistics say, yes. But in theory, nothing is better than constantly studying."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"In theory, Logan. Just listen to what the facts say. Isn't that your thing, Mr. Logical?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Logical isn't my surname," Logan corrected, "It's Logue."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Yeah, I know. It's just a figure of speech."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Well, I've heard people say my middle name is Logic."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Okay, back to the point."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"What point?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"That you're studying too much. You need to take a break. Can you try to study less next week and see if you do any better in school?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"I suppose that is my only other option now." He averted his gaze towards the floor. "Uhm, thank you, Patton."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"You're very welcome, Logan." Patton grinned and held out his hand to Logan. "Now what do you say that we go make some supper."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Oh, I don't cook."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"You don't cook?!" Patton asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"No. I know how to function a toaster and that's all I need."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________The two made their way downstairs where Roman and Virgil were glaring at each other. "Virgil do you wanna stay for dinner?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________~~~_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Virgil hesitated. He didn't want to be a bother, but he also didn't want to go back home. Oh, Janus and Remus didn't do anything particularly mean, but they really freaked Virgil out. One moment Janus would be all caring, the next he'd remind Virgil that he may be a serial killer. And Remus? He'd mostly yell about juicy buttholes all day and then throw a tantrum about how no one took him seriously. It was too overwhelming for Virgil, so he went across the street._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________But he really should be at home, and not bothering these three so he refrained from staying. "Sorry, Pat, but I think I should go home now. Thanks though."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Okay. See you later, kiddo." He waved goodbye._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________When Virgil arrived through the front door, Janus was in the kitchen reading a book. "So how was it?" he asked without looking up._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"How was what?" Virgil asked._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"You went over to Patton's, did you not?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"No," Virgil lied. He wasn't sure why he had to keep it a secret, but he didn't want to tell Janus._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Yes you did."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"How do you know that?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Janus looked up, his yellow eyes sending a shiver down Virgil's back. "I can tell when someone is lying, Virgil. So don't lie to me."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Virgil gulped._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"I don't want you going over there anymore."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Excuse me?" Was Janus even allowed to do that?_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"I don't want you going over there anymore," he repeated._ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Virgil frowned. "But Saturday you said-"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"They all hate us over there, and you want to be friends with them?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Virgil looked down. "They don't hate me."_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________"Oh they don't?"_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

__________Virgil didn't answer. Roman obviously didn't like him, but that was a given. Logan didn't really seem to care, so Virgil was unsure about him. But Patton? Virgil thought he cared for him, but now he wasn't sure if it was true. And Janus _did _say he could detect lies. "I don't know," he answered softly.___ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _


	8. Rainy Day Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Angst, but also some cute fluff

A full week had passed until Virgil visited again. This time he didn't invite himself, Patton hadn't either, not even Logan. This time, Roman was the one who invited him.

How did this come to be? Well it all started on a rainy monday morning.

"Roman! You're gonna be late for work!" He woke up to the sounds of Patton shouting.

"Jesus Christ Superstar!" He sat up and checked the time. Even with Patton driving him to work, he'd be late.

He rushed downstairs to where Patton was waiting for him. "Do you wanna eat a quick snack before we-"

"No time!" Roman shouted, already running out the front door. He stepped off the patio and recoiled as he realized it was raining.

"Do you have a rain jacket?" asked Patton as he stepped out wearing a bright yellow rain poncho.

Roman realized he had left his jacket up in his room but decided that there wasn't enough time to go grab it. "Let's just go."

He and Patton drove into the city, but a few blocks away from the theatre, they were met with unmoving traffic. "Ugh, I'm already running late," Roman complained, slamming his hands onto the dashboard. Then he got the brilliant idea of running the rest of the way there.

He started to exit the car but Patton protested. "But Roman, you don't have a jacket and it's raining buckets out there."

"It'll be quicker this way. Thanks for the ride, Patton."

"But-" Roman closed the door before Patton could change his mind.

The theatre was a few minutes away but it probably would've been another hour if he had stayed in the car. By the time he stepped into the building, he was drenched and winded.

"CRUZ!" Mr. McGee shouted, coming around the corner to meet Roman, "Are you aware how late you are?!"

Roman glanced at the clock and cringed. He was a full twenty minutes late.

"And you have the audacity to show up sopping wet! I oughta fire you."

Roman froze. Fire him? No, no, that couldn't happen. "Sir, I-"

"Lucky for you I won't," Mr. McGee said."

Roman's face broke into a grin. "Oh thank you so much! I'll get started on the files right away-"

"Hold it, boy. I said I ain't gonna _fire_ you. But there's still something I have to do."

Roman's smile faltered. "Like what, sir?"

McGee scratched his chin. "Suspension," he muttered to himself, "Yes, that'll do. Cruz, don't bother coming in for the rest of the week."

Roman's expression turned angry. "Suspend me?! But sir, I-"

"Oh don't try and change my mind, boy. I'm teaching you a lesson without firing you. You should thank me." He started to turn away.

"I shouldn't thank you. In fact, I might just quit!"

McGee raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? And what then Cruz? Do you really think someone will hire a boy like you? You're lucky I don't fire you. Goodbye." He pushed Roman out the door and into the pouring rain.

Roman was angry. No, he wasn't just angry, he was _raging furious._ He wanted to march right in there and tell Mr. Doodoo-face-McGee exactly what was on his mind. But he knew he couldn't do that. He was completely helpless.

He must've stood in front of the theatre for ten minutes, before he started walking. Not walking home, not walking anywhere in particular, just walking. Goodness, he was such a failure. He wanted to be a brilliant actor when he could barely keep his crappy job as an errand boy in a small theatre? Pathetic.

It was pouring buckets from the clouds yet Roman didn't go inside. He had no money since he had forgotten his wallet at home. Well, he still barely had money even then. For hours he wandered the streets of the city not caring how cold and wet it was.

At the time Roman would've been leaving work, Patton texted him offering a ride home. Roman didn't answer.

Eventually, he started his long journey home since that was the only place he could go. _Until you're kicked out for not being able to pay the rent,_ he thought.

Nine pm. Nine pm was the time he finally returned to the light blue town house. The house was dark so Roman guessed that Logan and Patton were already in bed. He turned on the light to dim and fell onto the couch. At last, he let the tears fall.

Half an hour of sobbing and feeling sorry for himself, Roman heard his phone ping. He was surprised to see who had texted him.

**Emo Nightmare: Hey**

**Emo Nightmare: I saw u out my window and i was just wondering if ur ok**

****_Why does he care? Why does Virgil think that he has any right to ask if I'm okay?_ Those were the questions running through Roman's head. But the more important ones were, _He really cares?_ And _Do I trust him enough to tell him?_

Roman didn't trust Virgil at all, but he really _really_ needed someone to talk to. And Virgil seemed like his best option right now.

**R.O.M.A.N: Could you come over please?**

Virgil was standing in the foyer looking at Roman a minute later. "Hi. Wow, um, you look terrible."

Roman scoffed. "Wow, thanks."

Virgil pursed his lips and sat down beside him, avoiding his gaze. "Is everything alright?"

"Does it look like everything's alright?"

"Okay, you invited me over here. Either quit the sarcasm or I'm leaving."

Roman sighed. "Sorry, it's just... it's been a tough day."

Virgil met Roman's eyes and gave him a sympathetic look. "You can tell me about it if you want."

Roman smiled slightly. Out of all the people he could confide in, it was Virgil who made him feel slightly better. "I arrived late today so my boss suspended me. For a week."

"So... is it like a vacation?"

"No. It's a week of not getting paid."

"Oh."

"But my boss is just terrible. He makes me feel like crap." Roman told him the whole story of what Mr. McGee had said to him that day.

"He sounds terrible. I'm sorry, Roman, I'm truly sorry about this."

"Well... thanks I guess," Roman said, surprised that Virgil had said that.

"Did you- did you spend the whole day out in the rain?"

"Um..."

"Jesus, Roman. You can't do that! You'll catch a cold or something!"

Roman smirked. "Aw, you care about me."

"I do not," Virgil refuted, "I just... I just don't want anything bad to happen to you."

"Hmm."

"You should change into some dry clothes."

Roman laughed. "You sound like Patton."

"Well, maybe he's rubbing off on me."

Roman listened to Virgil though and changed into some pajamas. He also grabbed a towel for his hair from the bathroom under the stairs and a blanket for the couch. So he and Virgil could sit together like bros. Nothing gay about it.

"I suppose we should do something now that you're here," he said, "Do you wanna watch a movie?"

"Sure," Virgil shrugged.

"Frozen 2?"

Virgil agreed and he turned on the movie while Roman made popcorn. They had a good time watching the movie together, with Roman talking the whole way through.

"Why are they telling a scary story to their young children as a bedtime story?"

"Why is the queen making ice toys for the kids? What is she, a birthday party entertainer?"

"And how small is Arendelle anyway? It seems like all the citizens live only in this small town."

"I wonder if the people appreciate their queen singing at the top of her lungs at like two in the morning."

"Are any of these things Olaf's saying even true? I'm gonna ask Logan, he'd know."

"Gale? They name the wind spirit Gale?!"

"And why is the fire spirit a gecko? That makes no sense."

"Why the actual heck is there an eighties style song in this movie about Scandinavia in the seventeenth century?"

"Didn't Elsa learn to not push people away in the first movie? Did she forget all of her character development like Steve Rodgers?"

"The cold seems to be bothering you now, Elsa!"

"Oh yeah, don't mourn about your dead sister or your dead snowman, just walk it off and save the world."

"Let the water flood Arendelle. It won't be hard to rebuild your tiny kingdom."

"Let me guess, water has memory and Olaf's fine."

"Yes Kristoff, perfect time to propose. Just phenomenal timing."

"Her own sister didn't come to her coronation but she can make it to charade night? This movie's stupid."

"Why did you critique the movie so much? Didn't you choose it?" Virgil asked.

"This is just how I show my love, okay?" The credits came on and they listened to the cover of Into the Unknown. "Honestly, this song is pretty good."

"Duhduhduhduh- pretty good?!" Virgil asked, jumping up, "Pretty good?! It's more than pretty good, it's amazing! It's frickin Panic! At the Disco!"

"Uum, is that a band or something?"

"It's more than a band, my dear princey. Here let me show you." He took his headphones off from around his neck and gave them to Roman. "Listen to this."

He pressed a button on his phone and music started playing. The entire time Virgil was smiling, eager to see what Roman thought.

"This is good so far. Hey, did they just call her a wh-"

"Just listen."

The song ended and Roman was surprised to find that he enjoyed it. "Say, your emo music is pretty good."

Virgil had a huge grin on his face. "Well, of course. Wanna listen to some more?"

Before Roman could protest- which he wouldn't have - Virgil played a few more songs. _When the Day Met the Night_ by P!ATD, _Sugar, We're Going Down_ by FOB, _I'm Not Okay (I Promise),_ by MCR, and _Give me Novocaine/She's a Rebel_ by Green Day.

"So? What do you think?" Virgil asked, leaning forward.

"While the topics are... interesting, they are really good songs."

"I have a pretty extensive playlist. I could send some bands and artists to you." Virgil stopped himself. "Or not. You probably think it's weird."

Roman placed his hand on Virgil's shoulder. "I don't think your music is weird."

Virgil tucked a stray hand of hair behind his ear. "Th- thanks."

Roman studied Virgil's face. He had pretty cute features and his eye shadow didn't look half bad. "Do you sing?"

"Huh?"

"Well, you seem to like music so much, so I was wondering if you sing."

"I guess. But I won't sing in front of other people."

"Oh." Roman was disappointed he couldn't hear Virgil sing. He bet it was beautiful.

"Do you sing?"

Roman smiled. "I do. Do you want to hear me?" Virgil nodded. So Roman sang. He sang _Once Upon a Dream_ from _Sleeping Beauty._

"Wow," Virgil gasped when he was done, "That was beautiful."

"Thank you." The two sat staring at each other for another minute. "Well, I should probably head off to bed," Roman said, standing up.

"Yeah, and I should go back-"

"You can stay if you want," Roman told him, "We have an extra room."

"The other's won't mind?"  
  


"No. And I can loan you some PJs."

"Oh, thank you." Virgil paused, "You know, Princey? You aren't so bad."

Roman smiled. "Right back at you, emo."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww my heart! So fluffy! Anyways, isn't Florida rain just the worse? I've been to Florida and the weather drove me crazy. It's no wonder the Florida man is like that. Also, I may have gone too far with all of those critiques about Frozen 2 but parts of that movie make no sense. (Well duh, publius, it's a cartoon what'd you expect?) Btw, the songs Virgil showed Roman were a few of my favorite emo songs.


	9. Rainy Day Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter starts in the morning before the last chapter. This part isn't much, just the fluff that took place on Logan's and Patton's side of the day. And I apologize that this is shorter than the other chapters, but the next chapter should be longer.

"Goodness, it's raining cats and dogs out there," Patton told Logan as he met him in the kitchen.

"It's what?!" Logan looked out the window, "That doesn't sound possible but I hope they're okay."

Patton giggled. "It's not actually raining cats and dogs. It's just another expression."

"That- that makes no sense. Pets and rain have no similarities."

Patton shrugged. "So, you have a test today?"

"Yes."

"And did you study less like I told you?"

"I did."

"Are you nervous?"

Logan didn't say anything.

"You are. Don't worry, I think you're gonna do great!"

Logan smiled. "Well thank you. I should probably be leaving now so we're not held up in traffic."

"Goodbye, Logan." Then Patton did something he completely didn't intend to do. He stood on his tippy toes and pecked Logan on the cheek. Patton didn't realize what he had done until Logan was already out the door.

Panic seized him. _Why did I do that? Logan probably hated it. Did he hate it? I didn't see his reaction. Oh gosh, he probably hates me now!_

~~~

 _He just kissed me on the cheek,_ Logan thought, _He just kissed me on the cheek! Ah, don't get ahead of yourself, he probably didn't mean anything by it. He was just being friendly._

Despite whatever meaning the kiss had meant, this had put Logan in a good mood all day. So, he did exceptionally well on his test, and was really happy to see Patton that afternoon.

"Hello, Patton," he said with a smile as he got into his car.

"Hi, Logan! You look cheery. How was school?"

"Good, thank you. I believe I did well on the test."

"That's amazing! I'm so proud of you!"

Logan smiled and looked at the rain falling on the windshield. "The rain is beautiful, isn't it?"

"Hmm."

Logan felt Patton's eyes on him, and he turned around to see him smiling at him. But then he looked away. "Welp, I guess we should head home now." He started the car. "I texted Roman to see if he wanted a drive but he didn't answer."

"Maybe he got another ride home."

But when the two arrived home Roman was nowhere to be found. Could Logan's day get any better?

"I'm sure he's fine," Patton assured himself, "He wouldn't do anything stupid."

Logan laughed. Everything Roman did was stupid.

"Oh well, I'm gonna cook supper now if you wanna wait."

While Patton worked in the kitchen, Logan sat in the bay window with a book. But he wasn't paying any attention to the words. Instead, he was listening to the sounds of the rain and Patton's humming. He imagined that they were a domestic couple and this was their house.

He immediately stopped himself. He shouldn't be imagining something as silly as that. Though, there was no doubt that Logan was developing what one might call a 'crush' on Patton.

"How was your day?" he asked him.

"It was great, thank you. I got to see a little girl adopt a kitten at the store today."

"You like cats, don't you?"

"I love them. They're the _purr_ fect pets."

 _Great_ , a dad joke. "I understand that you do volunteering too."

"Yeah. I'll work a few hours at a soup kitchen everyday. I don't make any money off of it, but the satisfaction of helping other people is enough pay for me."

Logan smiled. This guy was figuratively an angel. "That's a really admirable thing for you to do, Patton."

Patton blushed. "Thanks. Um, supper's ready."

While the two ate, they listened to each other's stories of the day. Logan thought it felt even more domestic and he loved it. When they were finished, he suggested that they watch a movie. Patton loved that idea.

"What movie should we watch? You can pick."

"Well, we should choose a movie according to our interests. To my knowledge, you are an avid fan of cartoons?"

"Yes."

"And I prefer science fiction movies, so we should choose a movie that blends cartoon animation with science fiction."

"Big Hero 6!" Patton suggested.

"I haven't seen it."

"Oh, you'll love it. It has a cute robot in it."

So they turned on the movie. Logan did enjoy it, but he was more focused on Patton, who had fallen asleep halfway through. He had dozed off and ended up leaning into Logan's shoulder. Without thinking, Logan reached out and stroked Patton's curly blond locks while he slept.

When the movie ended, Logan carried Patton to bed and tucked him in. As Patton had given him a kiss on the cheek this morning, he thought it only fair that he returned the favor now. "Good night, Patton."


	10. Moving In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Worth noting that I literally no clue about how jobs or businesses work, so there's gonna be a lot of inaccuracies in here.
> 
> TW: somebody feels controlled, Unsympathetic!Janus but then some Sympathetic!Janus, rude hand gestures, a ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°) joke

"Where the heck were you last night?!" Virgil heard Patton yell from downstairs, presumably at Roman.

He had slept over in the extra room since he didn't want to go back to Janus. He didn't like how he told him not to go over to the blue house, it was unsettling that he thought he could control him like that. Virgil got out of bed and went downstairs to greet the others.

"Why'd you stay out so late?! And how'd you get home?!" Patton interrogated. Roman looked panicked, looking for an excuse to give Patton.

"He was with me," Virgil spoke up. Everyone looked up at the stairs and noticed he was there. "We hung out in the city after work, and we grabbed an Uber home."

"Oh hi, Virgil," Patton waved good morning, "I didn't know you were here."

"Hmm, hung out?" Logan was standing at the counter with a cup of coffee and a book. "Is that all you did?"

Virgil looked down and realized he was still wearing Roman's red pajamas. "No, no! We- no, I stayed in the extra room- I didn't- we didn't-." He felt his face heat up. He was probably as red as the clothes he was wearing.

"It's okay, Virgil, we believe you," Patton said.

"I don't," Logan smirked.

"Roman, do you think we should leave early today? There's some more traffic in the city, and I bet your boss wants you to be there early," said Patton.

"Oh... I, um-" 

"He, uh, has to run some errands for the theatre and... I have to help him?" Virgil lied, hoping he sounded convincing. It probably didn't but Patton bought it.

"But aren't you an actor there?" Patton asked, "Why do you have to run errands?" Roman must've told them that he was an actor, which seemed like something he'd do.

"Well, you know how it is, everyone has to help out," said Roman.

"Besides," added Virgil, "It's just makeup and stuff. That's why he's coming with me, so I can get him a discount at the store." Yes, this seemed like a solid story.

Luckily, Patton believed them. "Oh okay, sounds good to me. Logan, do you want a ride?"

"I have that carpo-" He looked up at Patton who was giving him puppy dog eyes, and cleared his throat, "I would love one."

The two left swiftly, so now it was just Virgil and Roman alone again. "I don't know about you, but I think Logan has feelings for Patton," Virgil laughed.

"Logan? Feelings? No way. He's practically void of any human emotion."

"Hmm, I don't know. I think those two are gonna start dating soon."

"Bet."

"Ten dollars they kiss in a week."

"Bet accepted," Roman said gleefully, shaking Virgil's hand. "So what do we do now? Can you really get me a discount on makeup."

"Probably not," Virgil said, "But I could see if we can get you a job at the store for a week." Virgil wanted Roman to work there permanently with him, but he knew that despite his evil boss, he loved the theatre.

"Really?" Roman looked at Virgil with his beautiful emerald eyes which were shining with delight as Virgil said those words. "Could you really do that?"

"We'll see. I walk there though, so we should leave soon."

"Right. And thank you so much!"

Virgil blushed underneath his bangs. "Anytime."

~~~

"Congrats," Virgil said, "You got the job."

Roman grinned. "Oh my goodness, thank you so much!" Roman so happy he could've lifted Virgil up and spun him around.

"No problem. Shift starts in three minutes, you're on cashier duty with me. So if you don't know how to do anything, just ask me."

The two started working behind the counter. Well, 'working' is a generous word since they were mostly talking.

"So Virge, tell me a bit about yourself," said Roman, giving Virgil his most charming smile.

He shook his head. "Eh, there's not much to say. Why don't you tell me about yourself?"

Roman wanted to know about Virgil, but couldn't turn down an opportunity to talk about himself, so he launched into a dramatic telling of his life story, pausing every time there was a customer. He told Virgil about how he discovered his love of the arts in grade school, how at the age of ten, his parents split taking him and his brother with them, and how he was raised by his mother and barely saw the other half of his family. Then he unfolded the drama that went on when he and Remus went to high school, including the time Remus caught the science lab on fire which led to half the school burning down. Finally, he told Virgil how the past few years of his life had been working small jobs at theatres hoping to someday be an actor... though his talents were yet to be discovered.

"You'll eventually get there, Roman. You're an excellent singer, and you're dramatic- in a good way."

"Why, thank you. But yeah, that's the dream, to become rich and famous with a wife just as beautiful and talented as me."

"Oh." Virgil looked somber.

"What's your dream?" Roman asked.

"My dream? Oh, I don't know. I went into college hoping that I'd find something to do, but nothing stuck so I gave up there. I don't really have a plan, I just focus on surviving and making it through... life."

"Really? No ambitions? No interests? No hobbies you can turn into your career?"

Virgil shrugged and looked at the clock. "We have three more hours. You sure did talk a lot, Princey."

Roman huffed. Why wasn't Virgil telling him more about himself, he wanted to know more about this mysterious boy. "What's your favorite color?"

"What?"

"If I'm gonna be your friend, I have to know more about you. So I'm starting with small questions," Roman explained, "What's your favorite color?"

"Oh, um purple."

"Favorite animal?"

"Spider. I've actually been thinking about getting a pet tarantula."

"Don't let Patton hear you say that, he hates spiders."

"I don't get the spider hate. They just have a few extra legs and eyes."

"Remember that some are poisonous. Do you have a girlfriend?"

Virgil paused. "No."

"Ah, you just broke up. Well that's okay, my dear Virge, you're better off without her-"

"Guys!" he shouted suddenly.

"Huh?"

"I date guys. Oh god, you're gonna hate me now."

Roman paused. He didn't know what to do with that information. "I'm not gonna hate you, Virgil." Roman himself had been questioning lately, especially ever since he met Virgil, but he hoped that was just... a strong want to be his _friend._

"Oh, well that's a relief."

"Do you have a boyfriend then?"

"Nah. All my past relationships crashed and burned."

"Aww. Well don't desist in your quest for love, my friend. You'll find him someday."

~~~

The walk home was nice for the most part, but as they got closer home, Virgil started to worry about Janus. What would he say about last night? He had told Virgil that he wasn't allowed to go over to the light blue house. And there was no denying that he'd been with Roman the whole time, one of the people Janus explicitly told him not to befriend. How would he react? What would he do?

"I'll see you later," he said finally as they reached their block, peering up at his window in the dark gray house.

"Something's bothering you," Roman said.

Virgil played with his hoodie strings anxiously. Was he really that obvious? "It's just that... Janus ... he said I couldn't hang with you guys anymore and I'm scared he'll get mad."

"Really? Why would he say that?"

"He thinks you guys don't like him."

"Well, that _is_ true. But what do you expect when he says stuff like that?"

Virgil nervously looked at the house again, knowing Janus was waiting in there for him.

"How about you move in with us?"

"What?" Virgil asked, unsure he heard Roman right.

"You should move in with us. Janus and Remus aren't good roommates, so come with us. C'mon, it'll be great!"

Virgil wrung his hands. "I don't know..."

"We have an extra room next to mine, it'll be yours. And I'm sure Patton and Logan won't mind. Plus, it'll be less rent to pay."

Virgil looked up at Roman, his bright green eyes pleading him to agree. He couldn't say no to a face like that. "Ask the others. If they agree, then... maybe."

"Haha, yes. This'll be great!" Roman hugged Virgil before he ran off.

Virgil smiled softly, watching him leave. They'd only been friends since last night and already Roman was the best friend Virgil had ever had.

But his smile faded when he turned back to his house. What would Janus say?

~~~

"You want to _what_?!" Janus asked as Virgil was walking down the stairs with all his things.

"I want to move out," he repeated, standing in the foyer with his black backpack slung over his shoulder, "They offered me a room across the street. I was with Roman and he suggested i-"

"Roman? The self-centered twin? I thought you _hated_ him."

"No..." Virgil looked at his shoes, "He actually... he actually seems really nice." Janus swore he saw him smile a love struck smile.

Janus scoffed. "If I didn't know any better, Virgil, I'd say you're developing feelings for this man."

"No," Virgil insisted, his voice an octave higher, "He just- they- everyone over there seems to care about me a lot more than you do! They're friendly, not closed off like you!"

"Closed off?" Janus rolled his eyes dramatically, "My dear Virgil, if you're going to insult me, why not use an adjective that doesn't also describe yourself. We all hate a hypocrite."

Virgil groaned. "Ugh, why are you like this? One moment you'll actually seem like you care and then you'll be all rude and creepy. You're creepy dude!"

"Hmm. Janus pretended to check his fingernails even though he was wearing gloves. "Well, sucks to suck."

"Yeah? Well why don't you suck on this?!" Virgil flashed Janus a rude gesture before leaving and slamming the door behind him.

Janus looked longingly at the door and sighed. "Another one scared off," he murmured sadly to himself. He sat down on the sofa and held his head in his hands. "Why does this always happen?"

He figured it was because he scary looking, with the white birthmark on his face or the bright yellow eyes. But people shouldn't hate on unique appearances anymore. People also told him that he was too mysterious. But people don't know much about him because they don't care enough to ask. He wished somebody would ask.

He looked back at the door that Virgil had just gone through. He had liked him, he seemed like he would actually make a good friend. But he only gave Janus a few weeks before he ditched him. He just hoped Virgil would be happy over there.

~~~

"You will be so happy over here!" Patton squealed, hugging Virgil tightly, "I'm so glad you agreed."

"Yeah? Well thank Roman. He was the one who convinced me." Virgil smiled up at Roman.

"C'mon, JD- lightful. I'll show you to your room." He and Virgil went upstairs.

Patton turned around to face Logan and clasped his hands together. "Oh, I'm so glad that they became friends!"

"Friends? Excuse me while I laugh."

"What do you mean by 'friends?' What else would they be?"

Logan raised an eyebrow. "Patton, you cannot deny that those two have- what do you call it -chemistry."

Patton laughed. "I don't think they're in love."

"You don't? I bet that they'll confess their feelings for each other in less than a week."

"Deal, smart boy."

Logan smiled down at Patton. "Oh, you're giving me nicknames now too?"

Patton frowned. "Was it mean? 'Cuz if it was, I'm sor-"

"It's fine, Patton. In your words, 'you need to lighten up'."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeyey! Are you proud of me? A chapter more than 2000 words! Hope you enjoyed, and I wish you all a great day/night/whatever time it is in the part of the world that's blessed with your existence!


	11. Remus' Revenge

When the four started to go to bed, Patton warned Virgil about the music. “Our next door neighbor, Remy, plays really loud music so you might wanna wear those super cool headphones of yours. They’ll block out the sound a bit.”

“Okay… but have you guys not asked him to stop?”

“Well, we did but it didn’t really work. He’s actually kinda  _ rude _ ,” Patton said sadly.

Virgil shook his head. “You want my help in making him stop?”

“How would you do that?”

Virgil smirked. “Oh Princey, be a dear and help me annoy the heck out of our neighbor!” he called, summoning Roman.

“How may I be of service?” 

“I’m gonna get my speaker. We’re gonna play the loudest alt rock songs I got.”

Virgil set up the speaker and he and Roman picked out a song to play. “Give ‘Em H*ll, Kid?” Roman suggested.

“Yes, perfect.” Virgil hooked his phone to the speaker and was ready to blast the song on full volume. “Er, Patton, you might want to cover your years.”

“Oh, I’m sure your music is f-” Virgil pressed play and Patton immediately covered his years. “Oh goodness, what is this music?!”

“It’s art!” Virgil shouted over the blasting sound waves that Remy could hear no doubt.

A few seconds later, there was a loud knock at the door. They opened it to find the sunglasses-clad landlord standing there angrily. “Hey, do you mind?!”

“Oh, what was that?!” Virgil shouted, “I can’t hear you over the music!”

“I said CAN YOU TURN DOWN THE MUSIC!!”

_ Still can’t hear you, _ Virgil mouthed, pointing to his ear.

Remy sighed. “If you turn it down, I promise I won’t blast my music either.”

Virgil shut the music off. “Deal,” he smirked. He closed the door and turned back to his friends.

They cheered. “Oh finally, I’ll be able to get a full night of sleep,” Patton said, “Thank you, Virgil.”

“No problem,” he smiled. He was glad he could help his new housemates with something.

~

The following week, everyone was in a much better mood now that they could sleep soundly. And Virgil and Roman went to work together everyday. But Friday was the last day Roman would work with him. That day he was a bit mopey, and Roman noticed.

“What’s the matter, Charlie Frown?” he asked as they clocked out to head home for the day.

Virgil sighed. “It’s nothing,” he said sadly. He could  _ never _ let Roman know how much he cared about him. Virgil cherished their walk home, knowing it’s be their last together.

~~~

Remus sat at the window, looking out at the street. He had taken Virgil’s room after he left a week ago since it had a street facing window for him to watch people out of. Janus hadn’t wanted him to take the room- he’d actually been really bitter ever since Virgil left -but why should Remus listen to him?

Since Remus only worked a few hours in the morning, he spent the day doing a few pastimes. People watching was one of his favorites. Not in a stalking way! It’s just a fun way to learn about people without them knowing you were there. If they had known Remus was there, they probably wouldn’t want to talk to him.

But he had learned quite a bit about the neighborhood he lived in this way. For example, he learned that the man living in the pink house next door liked to take cookies over to the man who wore sunglasses in the gray house next to the blue house. Sometimes, he’d see couples out on a stroll or kids playing. But once he saw two young boys stomping in the rain puddles, he turned away. They reminded him too much of him and Roman.

Looking out the window now in the afternoon, he saw two shadows appear around the corner.  _ Probably another love-struck couple, _ he thought. But the two men who walked onto the street were Virgil and Roman.

Remus sneered. He wanted to turn away and ignore his brother, but he was more curious than anything. So he cracked the window open so he could hear them talking in front of the house.

“... go back to the theatre on Monday,” he heard his brother say.  _ Of course  _ Roman worked at a theatre, he was probably super successful and everything. Remus glanced at his bed where his papers were scattered. He had been working on a play script using that uncompleted song he had found in the trash a few weeks ago.

“Do you have to go back? Do you really want to go back working for that jerk?” Virgil asked.

Remus saw his brother shrug. “Eventually it’ll all be worth it.”

“When you’re rich and famous,” Virgil sighed, “With a beautiful wife.”

Ah, so Roman was still closeted. He couldn’t be straight since Remus was gay and that just isn’t how biology works.

Roman nodded and looked up at the dark grey house. He stepped away from the window and prayed Roman didn’t see him.

“I wonder what it’s been like since I left,” Virgil pondered.

“Probably crappy. It wouldn’t be a place worth living if you weren’t there.”

Remus smiled. He didn’t usually go for fluffy crap like that, but he had to admit that Roman and Virgil had a pretty cute love story going on between them.

He heard Virgil laugh. “I know I shouldn’t care, but I hope they’re alright.”

“I know what you mean. Sometimes I-” And then Roman said something he’d never forget, “Sometimes I still care about Remus.”

“What?” Remus gasped to himself.

“Even though he’s  _ a disappointment  _ and I’d rather  _ forget about him _ , I still hope he’s okay. I mean, he’s my brother and I still love him.”

Remus walked back to the window and watched them go into their house. Had Roman really said that? Did he really think that REMUS WAS A DISAPPOINTMENT?! AND HE’D RATHER FORGET ABOUT HIM?! THAT JERK!

Remus sat on his bed outraged. “You’ll regret saying that, brother,” he said to no one, “I’ll make you regret that.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so so so sorry that I haven't written in a while, and I also apologize for this chapter being so short. But I promise that the next chapter will be worth it and that will be uploaded in a few days.
> 
> Also, I started another fic (because you know, there's nothing better than being overwhelmed by multiple projects!) But please check it out if you want.


	12. Remus' Actual Revenge (And the chaos it causes)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Severe TW: graphic depictions of violence and blood, a panic attack, and some swearing in a different language, minor nerd and emo shaming, and very Unsympathetic!Remus

Monday came and everyone was in a good mood. Roman was happy that he got to go back to work and Virgil was happy that Roman was happy. And though Patton and Logan couldn’t know the cause of Roman’s good mood, they were still influenced by his joy as well. Needless to say, everyone was in a good mood. Except for a ting of sadness Virgil had deep down.

Frankly, he was a bit bummed that Roman wouldn’t be working with him everyday, but he knew this was how it had to be. Roman had to go back working at the job he hated so he could have a future in acting. But the selfish part of him longed for them to work together.

“So, Padre,” Roman asked, “Could you drive me to the theatre? The, uh, thing Virge and I were working on is done so I can go back to working at a normal time now.”

“Sure thing, kiddo! Logan, you can carpool with your friends right?” Patton asked.

“I can. And the college is having an assembly this evening so you don’t have to pick me up,” Logan said, “Virgil, if you’d want to ride with my classmates and I, feel free to come with me.”

“Oh okay,” Virgil said.

“Looks like we really know how to  _ pool _ our resources together in order to make a good  _ carpool  _ plan, ye?” Patton joked, a large grin on his face.

No one laughed at his joke since it wasn’t funny and made no sense, but they all bid their adieus.

Logan led Virgil to his classmate’s car and they got in the back. “This is my housemate, Virgil,” he told the driver who must’ve been another college student, “Would you mind dropping him off at the mall?”

The driver agreed and they started the car. A minute into the ride, Logan said, “You like Roman.”

Virgil made a startled noise. That wasn’t even a question, Logan said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Oh god, Virgil hoped that it wasn’t that obvious. “W- what do you mean?” he asked, playing dumb.

“You obviously like him. You are- what do they call it? -head over feet-”

“Heals,” Virgil corrected.

“Whatever. You like him. And if my hunch is right, then you two are dating.”

“Dating? What, no. I mean, I wish, but no.” He sighed. “Yes, I like him, but he doesn’t like me back. Why’d you think we’re dating?”

“You two have been leaving and coming home together everyday. You mean to tell me that there was nothing going on there?” Logan asked, raising an eyebrow.

“No. I really was just helping him with some work thing,” Virgil said. It wasn’t  _ entirely _ a lie. “But he doesn’t like me back. He also says he isn’t gay which is complete bogus since his identical twin is.”

“Yes.” Logan put on his thinking expression. “Since he and Remus are identical they share the same genes including the ones that code for sexuality.”

“Well, even if he were out, he’d never go for someone like me,” Virgil lamented.

“Why do you say that?” Logan asked.

Virgil sighed and looked out the window. He watched as the beige storefronts passed by in a blur. “He wants someone beautiful and talented. And someone with a future. I don’t even  _ know  _ what I want in life. I don’t know what my future looks like at all, but… but I think having him in it would be kinda cool.”

He turned around and saw that Logan had a smirk plastered on his face. “What’s that look for?”

“I was right that you like him.”

“Yeah, well… you like Patton!” Virgil accused.

Logan’s smug grin vanished. “Uh, no,” he insisted, looking almost flustered.

Virgil gasped and smiled. “You do~”

“I do not. His existence is inconsequential to me.”

Virgil smirked and raised an eyebrow.

“It is unimportant.”

“Uh-huh.”

Logan groaned dramatically. “Fine, his existence is good.”

“And you like him?”

“ _ Maybe, _ ” he managed to whisper.

Virgil smiled. He hoped that maybe Logan and Patton would get together one day. But he knew his chances with Princey were futile.

~~~

“Farewell my dear Patton!” Roman said as he got on the sidewalk in front of the theatre. “May your day be a fine one!”

“Thanks kiddo. Have a swell day as well,” Patton said, waving before driving off.

Roman had had a delighted demeanor until he turned towards the theatre and stared at it’s doors. He imagined lightning crashing and evil laughter coming from inside the theatre as if it were a supervillain's evil lair. Mr. McGee was the closest thing to a super villain he had.  _ What will he say? What if he decided to fire me after all? _

Roman not-so-confidently entered the theatre and was greeted by his jerk of a boss. “Terrible to see you again, Cruz,” he said with a sneer, “Anyway, a college is having a presentation here tonight so you’re gonna be working late. It’ll make up for all the time you lost last week.” He walked away without another word.

Roman groaned. He’d be working all these extra hours and, knowing Mr. McGee, he probably wouldn’t even be paid overtime. He quickly texted his roommates that he’d be home late and got to work doing the small tasks the McGees ordered him to do.

~

Hours later, the college students started to file into the auditorium which Roman had painstakingly cleaned. He had picked up every single popcorn piece left by the last set of audience members, had dusted the red velvet curtains, and had wiped down each and every seat. He had been working so hard for so long that his poofy hair-do had fallen down over his face. He almost looked like Virgil, which he found quite funny.

While fixing his hair, his eyes scanned the audience. All of them looked like they were from a crowd that Roman wouldn’t socialize with. They were more likely to be Logan’s friends. Roman chuckled to himself. How funny would it be if Logan were-  _ Oh mierda.  _ He recognized a particular face in the audience. There, with his square glasses and pale complexion was none other than his roommate Logan Logue.

Romn cursed. Logan couldn’t know he worked here like this. He had told him that he was an  _ actor _ at the theatre. Roman frantically ran behind the curtain and hid in a small spot backstage so he wouldn’t be seen.

The presentation starte which he partially listened to but he didnt care. It was just some seminar on math or something. But it took  _ two  _ hours for it to be over and done with. When the final line was said, Roman was eager to leave his hiding spot backstage. He rushed out to what he thought would be an empty audience, but a few more people were packing up. And as luck would have it, Logan was there in one of the first rows. His eyes fixed on him.

“Roman?” he questioned, “Is this the theatre at which you work?”

“Uh-” Before he could answer, he was interrupted by his boss.

“There you are, boy. We need you to clean down the auditorium,” he ordered.

“Clean? I thought Roman was one of your actors,” Logan said.

Roman winced. Here it came.

“Actor?! Bah!” Mr. McGee laughed. “He ain’t one of our actors. He’s nothing but our pathetic errand boy! A file clerk or a janitor or any other thing that he’s barely good enough for.”

Logan looked suspiciously at Roman. “Huh.”

Roman wished he could disappear. One of his roommates, the one that he bullied and constantly name-called now knew his embarrassing secret. “I’ll get right to it, Mr. McGee. Goodbye, Logan.”

“Wait a minute, Mr. McGee,” Logan spoke up, “Would you mind letting Roman leave for the night? He and I are housemates and I know that this is already far past his normal working hours.”

“Why would I do that?” Mr. McGee snarled.

Logan studied him, like he was trying to figure out what he cared about. “I suppose I could leave a bad review on the theatre’s website. And I could encourage my classmates to do the same.”

Mr. McGee grunted. “Whatever. Just be here on time tomorrow, Cruz.”

He left Roman and Logan alone. Roman could hardly believe it. Logan had just saved him? He hesitantly thanked him. He felt ashamed to be helped by the man who he had berated in the past.

“So, you aren’t truly an actor?” Logan asked, as they exited the theatre to be greeted by the night.

“Um, no. Pathetic, no? Virgil knows too. Just please, please don’t tell Patton. It’s shameful that everyone knows that I work a small trivial job like this.”

“Why did you lie to us?” Logan inquired.

Roman inhaled. He didn’t really know himself, but he decided on an adequate answer.“I guess I wanted you guys to think I’m actually cool, so I told you I’m an actor.”

“Roman, no matter what you are I will  _ always  _ think of you as uncool,” Logan said sincerely.

“Aw thank y- hey wait!” Roman realized what Logan had just said.

“But you shouldn’t lie to us, Roman. I will not tell Patton about this, for it’s not my information to disclose, but I advise you to be truthful.”

Roman nodded, but he knew he wouldn’t do it. But just being saved by him, he felt like he owed something to Logan. “Look Nerdy Wolverine- I mean Logan…” he sighed, “I’m sorry I called you a nerd.”

“Really? Because I think calling me ‘Nerdy Wolverine’ in your apology makes it void.”

Roman groaned. “No wait, really. I  _ am _ truly sorry. I’m sorry I called you a nerd and all the other things.” 

“Thank you. I accept your apology,” Logan nodded formally.

“Are you… are you gonna apologize for calling me a prep?” Roman asked, hoping for another bit of kindness.

“I only called you that in retaliation for your teasing, but I suppose the sentiment would be appreciated by you,” he said, “In that case, I apologize for calling you a prep.”

Roman wasn’t too sure what Logan just said, but he thought he heard an apology in there. “Apology accepted?”

They walked home, actually talking like a pair of friends. They were both in a good mood when they were stopped by someone on their block.

“Hello?” Roman asked. He couldn’t see his face, but he recognized the manic voice immediately.

“Hello, brother.”

Roman snarled, “Remus.”

He stepped into the light of the street lamp, revealing his ugly choice of wardrobe. “Yes, ‘tis I! I know you’d rather forget about me, but remember that I am here.” He shot an angry look at Roman. “And I can make your life a living h*ll!”

He pulled what looked like a baseball bat out from behind his back and swung. Roman had no time to dodge the blow before he was hit in the head and fell to ground.

~~~

Logan stepped back in surprise as Roman fell unconscious in front of him. “What is wrong with you?” he demanded from the trash man.

“Nothing. I just have a particular taste for revenge,” he chuckled, seemingly pleased with knocking his brother out, “Are you his friend?”

“That would be an overstatement.” Logan frowned at Remus. “But I don’t appreciate you knocking him out.”

Remus shrugged. “Close enough. If you don’t hate my brother, then you’re on his side.” Before Logan could tell Remus how insufferably stupid he was being he jumped at him and swung at his face.

Logan felt his fist collide with his nose and felt the blood start to flow down his face. It hurt but he was more confused than anything.  _ Nothing _ this man did was rational. “Why?” he asked.

“Why not!” the deranged man laughed. He swung for Logan again, but he was able to dodge out of the way. “Ah, you’re a tricky one aren’t you?” He pulled out what looked to be a kitchen knife, the metal flashing in the moonlight.

Fear shot through Logan. He stepped back, holding a hand out in front of him. “Re- Remus, I know you’re only doing this because you’re upset. If you could put down the knife, we cut just talk.”

But Remus wouldn’t listen. He jumped forward and his knife brandished at Logan’s face. He stepped back further, but Remus was able to scratch his forehead. “Oh great,” Logan muttered as he felt more blood trickle down his face. He looked down at Roman who was still unconscious on the sidewalk. He could easily fight Remus off (he had experience fighting bullies in highschool) though he hadn’t wanted to resort to such violence. But now there was no choice.

He moved towards the lunatic and flung with his left hand. The impact on Remus’ face was hard, and he fell back into the grass. Logan rubbed his wrist as he watched Remus struggle on the ground. He jumped back up and grabbed his bat. He was smiling but with an evil look. “I’ll get you now you little sh-”

“REMUS CRUZ!” someone yelled, grabbing both Logan’s and Remus’ attention. Janus stood at the porch, looking down at them with an unamused expression. “REMUS GET INSIDE!”

“But-” he protested, his voice cracking as if he were crying.

“GET. IN. SIDE.” He repeated, pausing at every syllable.

Remus obliged and rushed inside the dark gray house. Janus followed after him, but not before giving Logan a glare. He rolled his eyes and scoffed at the short angry man. As if he’d done anything wrong.

~~~

“Where are they? They should’ve been home hours ago!” Virgil was in a panic because Logan and Roman weren’t home yet. He and Patton had already finished their supper and were now waiting for them at the couch.

“I already told you, kiddo. Roman’s working late and Logan had that school thing. I’m sure they’ll be here any minute now,” Patton assured him with a confident smile. But deep down, he felt that something was terribly wrong too. But he knew he was being irrational and that they were fine.

“What if they were mugged? Or hit by a car?!” Virgil gasped. “What if they were eaten by a gator?!”

“C’mon, that’s a crazy possibility.”

“Patton, we live in Florida.  _ Anything _ can happen. Especially the gator scenario.”

“I’m sure they’re fine,” Patton repeated. But each time he said it, he believed it less.

Virgil slumped his head down in his arms and groaned. “Agh, why do I even care so much? It’s not like I-”

He was stopped mid sentence when a jingling of keys was heard at the door. Patton didn’t realize he jumped up and ran to the door until he got there, Virgil on his heels.

The door opened to reveal a gruesome sight. Logan was standing there with Roman slumped over his shoulder. Roman’s eyes were closed and he looked like he had been knocked out, but lacked any visible injuries. Logan on the other hand, clearly had been hurt. His nose was bruised and bloodied and he had a cut on his forehead. But the weirdest thing was, he seemed unphased by it.

Patton covered his mouth with his hands in shock. “What happened?!”

“Remus attacked us,” Logan deadpanned, “Nothing I couldn’t handle.” He let go of Roman, who would’ve dropped to the floor if Virgil hadn’t caught him and brought him to the couch.

“What do you mean ‘attacked you’?!” Patton demanded, boiling with anger. He could’ve gone and given Remus what he deserved, but one look at Logan’s knuckles let him know that the deed must’ve already been done.

Virgil grabbed a first aid kit from the bathroom and started to check Roman over for injuries. He almost looked like he was crying. “Oh god, what happened to him?!”

“His brother hit him over the head with a baseball bat,” Logan answered, standing in the middle of the foyer. Judging by his demeanor, no one would’ve guessed that he was just attacked. The only tells were the bleeding injuries on his face.

“And what happened to you?” Patton asked. He grabbed Logan and forced him to sit down, and he sat down on the coffee table in front of him.

“I sustained a punch to the nose and a cut to the forehead,” he said, “Oh, and I punched Remus once.”

“Wah- why are you so calm about this?! You’re bleeding all over your face! Your nose may be broken! Roman’s unconscious…” Patton rambled on while a crying Virgil cradled Roman in his arms.

Logan rolled his eyes. “QUIET!” he shouted, silencing the other two. “You two are overreacting. If you’d just calm down, this will be a lot easier to deal with.” 

“But- but- but Roman’s unconscious!” Virgil cried.

“Oh pshh, we should be able to wake him easily,” Logan said. Patton heard him mutter under his breath, “But do we really want to?”

“O- okay.” Virgil brushed the hair out of Roman’s face. “Knowing him, he’d want to be woken by true love’s kiss. God, he’s such a believer in fairytales.” He scoffed and leaned into Roman. “I can’t believe I’m doing it.”

Patton didn’t realize what Virgil was about to do until he was inches away from the unconscious man’s face. For that moment, Virgil was just a kid in love trying to save his crush. But before he could wake him with a kiss, Logan picked up a cup of ice water on the table and splashed Roman.

He awoke sputtering cold water everywhere. “Argh, que demonios-” his eyes went wide seeing Virgil posed for a kiss right in front of his face. “Were you about to kiss me?”

Virgil looked equally shocked. “Uh, uh, no. It was, uh, mouth to mouth?”

“No type of mouth to mouth would’ve been necessary in this situation since Roman’s heart didn’t stop. Besides, mouth to mouth was proven to have no effect on adults, only chest compressions,” Logan informed.

“ _ Not helping!” _ Virgil hissed at him.

“So you  _ were _ about to kiss me?” Roman asked again.

Virgil made a noise that sounded like: “Uuhiadntnwxxagh!” and ran upstairs before anything else could happen.

“Virgil wait!” Roman called, following him upstairs.

Patton turned back to Logan, who sighed. He did his signature move when exasperated, which was to pinch the bridge of his nose. But when he touched his face, his hand flew back and he winced in pain.

Patton looked at him compassionately. “I’ll calm down, but only if you let me tend to you.”

Logan took off his glasses and leaned forward. Patton took that as permission and started taking supplies from the first aid kit. He took some alcohol wipes and pressed them to Logan’s face. “This might hurt,” he warned beforehand.

Logan hissed slightly when the wipes came in contact with his wounds but made no other sounds of protest.

“So what happened? Tell me in detail,” Patton requested.

Logan told him of how Remus had snuck up on him and Roman on the sidewalk and how the fight had broken out. Patton was surprised to hear that Janus had stopped the fight. Yet, he had a suspicion that he had a part in this.

But Patton was impressed at Logan. “You really punched him?”

“Oh, it was no great feat. I’ve defended myself in many fights,” he said modestly.

Patton’s brow furrowed. “Who’d pick a fight with you?”

“Yeah, right. Because I just reek of intimidation,” Logan said with an eye roll.

Patton chuckled. “Hey, that was a joke. You just made a joke!”

Logan’s brow furrowed. “Falsehood.”

“Um, no. Trueshood,” he insisted.

Logan smiled faintly. “Very well. I guess you have some sort of positive effect on me.”

A minute passed until Patton had Logan all patched up. “Welp, your nose isn’t broken, but you’ll have a gnarly bruise for a while.” He leaned back on his palms and sighed. “Promise me you’ll try to avoid trouble the best you can? I don’t want you to get hurt anymore.”

Logan held up his hand in oath. “I’ll do my best.”

They stared at each other in awkward silence until Logan spoke up. “Er, Patton?” He seemed like he was unsure about something, which was rare for him.

“Yes?”

“I’d like to ask you something… or tell you something… or-” he sighed and burrowed his face in his long white fingers “-I don’t know.”

Patton leaned forward and pulled Logan’s hands toward him. “What is it?”

Logan looked at him like he was thinking something over. Since he wasn’t wearing his glasses, his eyes were more clear. Patton could see how deeply dark blue they were. Like the sky at twilight when there were only a few stars.

“Patton, I- oh goodness, this is so absurd,” he muttered, “This isn’t my place. I shouldn’t- this is so- agh, what am I doing?”

Patton leaned forward so that their noses were almost touching. “Logan? Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

“I- uh, I don’t know?” He took a deep breath. “Patton, I’d like to inform you that-” The rest was said pretty quickly but Patton caught it: “I like you!”

Patton smiled widely. He was so glad that his feelings were returned. “I like you too!”

Logan blushed. “Oh, really? Well-” He cleared his throat. “I suppose that is good to know.”

Patton looked at him teasingly. “Is that all? Do you want to say anything else?”

He sighed. “I apologize, Patton. I’m not too good at expressing my emotions, so I don’t have much to say… But-” Logan leaned further in. “Can- can I kiss you?” he asked tentatively.

Patton nodded and closed the small gap in between them. Their lips connected slowly at first, as if they were unsure what to do. But the longer they held, the deeper it got. It wasn’t Patton’s first kiss, and it probably wasn’t Logan’s either since he seemed to be pretty good at this, but this was the first kiss that felt like  _ this _ . Like they truly belonged together. Almost like their lips were made to fit like a jigsaw puzzle. And now finally these pieces were matched together and the puzzle was complete.

After what felt like both a lifetime but not still enough time, they broke apart. Patton was the first to speak. “You’re a good kisser.”

Logan smirked. “Nerds usually are.”

“So what does this mean?”

“Well, usually it means that we’re supposed to date now.” He looked at Patton. “If that’s alright with you?”

Patton grinned ear to ear. “Logan, you don’t know how good it is to hear you say that.”

~~~

Virgil ran to his room and started to feel a panic attack coming on.  _ DID YOU REALLY JUST TRY TO KISS HIM?!  _ He demanded from himself. GOD YOU’RE A FREAKING IDIOT! WHY? WHY WOULD YOU THINK THAT’S ALRIGHT?! __  
  


He fell onto his bed and closed his eyes tightly. He could hear his heart pounding in his chest but it felt more like it was in his throat reaching to jump out. He started to breathe heavily, but soon he felt like he was choking on his own breath. He clawed at nothing, hoping for something to hold onto. He tried to open his eyes but was greeted by the room spinning. He tried to scream but his throat felt dry and he had no voice.

And he felt completely helpless. After this Roman would hate his guts and he’d have to leave and move back to the dark gray house. But there Janus and Remus would be angry at him and he might feel forced to leave again. And where would he go after that? No friends, no home, no school because he stupidly dropped out. What was going to become of him? The thought made him panic even further.

For a while, all he could hear was wind and the rushing of waves. The hurricane of thoughts in his ears. But then he heard someone shouting over the wind. “Virgil! Virgil, are you alright?!”

He cracked his eyes open and took a deep breath. His vision cleared and he saw Roman sitting beside him. He grabbed his hand and looked at Virgil with a shocked expression. “Virgil, are you alright?!”

Having someone else here, especially the someone who he was freaking out about, should’ve made Virgil panic more. But there was something about him. The way he looked at Virgil with those kind green eyes that actually seemed to care, did something to calm him down.

“Virgil, it’s okay. I’m here now,” he said.

The storm stopped and Virgil felt himself breathing again. “I- I- I-” He tried to say something but no words came. He felt a sob rise up in his throat and as soon as he knew it, he was crying.

He felt Roman reach out for his shoulder, but as soon as he was touched, he tensed up. Luckily, Roman realized this and let go. “I’m sorry. But I’m here to help. Just breathe with me, okay?”

Virgil nodded. He followed Roman’s deep breaths while keeping eye contact with him. His eyes were like glowing green orbs that calmed him down even more. Maybe it was because they were the color of a grass marsh. Or the leaves on a lush evergreen tree. Or maybe because of what they simply were: the eyes of his knight in shimmering armor.

Virgil sniffled. “Are you mad at me? Because I’m so so  _ so  _ sorry.”

Roman looked at him softly. “I’m not mad at you, Virgil.”

“You- you aren’t?” he asked, wiping the tears away from his eyes.

“No,” he assured him. He said it softly, almost affectionately.

Virgil exhaled. “That’s good. Are  _ you  _ okay? You were hit in the head and-”

“We’re not worried about that right now,” Roman stopped him.

“Oh.” Virgil felt his eyelids droop and he yawned. “Can I lean into you now?”

Roman nodded and pulled him closer. He felt him start to stroke his hair and his eyes closed. “Is there anything else you need?”

Virgil felt slightly guilty asking Roman for so much. But something about his tone made him feel better. “Could you sing to me?” he mumbled quietly, getting comfortable against Roman’s chest

Roman obliged and started to sing a soft Cavetown song.  _ Talk to Me.  _ The singing and being so close to Roman made him feel safe enough to doze off.

“You’re really good at this,” he muttered.

He felt Roman shrug. “Just doing my best to help.”

~~~

Roman had to be honest with himself. When he had been woken up by the splash of cold water and found Virgil’s face inches away from him, he had hoped that he would kiss him.

Crazy, right? He must’ve been hit in the head hard because why would Roman want to kiss  _ Virgil _ ? Well, in that one moment, he had the answer. But as soon as Virgil ran off, it slipped away.

Now, with a sleeping Virgil leaning against his chest, the answer was almost clear to him. Virgil may not be the beautiful and talented actress he wanted, but he was something else entirely. He  _ was  _ beautiful and talented no doubt, but in an unexpected way. The way he smirked was beautiful. The way his violet eyes shone when he was happy was beautiful. And the way he got everyone to love  _ him  _ so quickly _ ,  _ a shy emo kid, was talent.

But the glaring problem was that Virgil was a boy not a girl. And this would truly mean that Roman was gay. Deep down he must’ve known it, but him realizing it now was still a shock. A shock that came with the amazing benefit of finally being able to look at Virgil and know it was love that he was feeling.

Roman leaned back onto the black sheets and held Virgil closer, still stroking his purple bangs. “Things are going to be a bit awkward now, aren’t they?” he asked, knowing he’d get no answer. But he didn’t want an answer. Right now, he just wanted to lay with the small sleeping storm cloud.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 4713 words. 4713 WORDS!!! I am crazy and sleep deprived. (Argh, it's 3 am, send help!) This was a bit challenging to write, which is odd because I used to be really good at writing hurt/comfort. *glances back at my unpublished Hamilton fanfiction* O-okay... maybe not good but... I did it a lot so that counts for something right?
> 
> Anyway, hope you enjoyed guys, gals, and nonbinary pals. May you have a swell day, night, whatever time it is in the world that's blessed with your existence!


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